Raise them up in the way they should go...

“We make a good team, Mom.”

That is a quote from my nearly seven-year-old daughter last week.

While you might think that she might have made that statement during a heated Wii bowling tournament against her brothers, or just successfully completed some other similarly competitive event — that couldn’t be further from it. In fact, she made the pronouncement when we were both muddy and a little wet as we worked together to do the chores last week while the three other family members were having a pretty good time attending the National Western Stock Show.

It’s one of those moments that makes a parent’s heart swell with pride, knowing that the example we try to set daily for our children and the lessons that we try to instill in them really are taking root.

No one said that chores are always fun, and usually far from it, but in agriculture, no matter the “fun factor” they must be done. Our animals — thus our livelihood — depend upon it.

So our routine went something like this. Each evening while my farmer hubby was away, Kara and I donned the appropriate gear (read hip-waders to deal with the abundance of mud) and set out to care for the menagerie of livestock that get to call our place home.

Now, I’ve mentioned in this space before the importance of women, in particular, knowing how things work on the farm — and how sometimes we of the female persuasion would do things differently if we were to do them every day. And I hold firm to that belief, but because I was only going to do “his” share of the work for three days, I could deal with the setup.

So each afternoon as we made the rounds, checking on the livestock, Kara’s job was to make sure all the water troughs were filled and that there weren’t any animals caught in the fence. For those of you who don’t have goats, the latter is probably foreign to you. For those who raise goats, you’re probably smirking just a little knowing full well that these critters do like to stick their heads through fences and find themselves entrapped — the old “grass is always greener” syndrome — if you will.

While she’s doing that, I’m putting out grain and taking care of the sows in the crates that have yet to pig. Before heading out west, James had made sure that there were enough hay bales in place that I wouldn’t have to deal with the cattle and tractor, and for that I was thankful . . . but mind you, I could have, if needed be. Just glad I didn’t because I might have buried the tractor up to the axles in the mud.

On the second night, most of the water tanks were still over half-full and I told my little helper that they could wait until the next night and we’d refill them again then.

It was at that moment that she replied that the goats needed us to take care of them so that they could grow big and that she was going to do her job. I could have burst open with pride at that moment. She understood perfectly at seven what some 40-year-olds who have never stepped foot on a farm fail to grasp.

If only it was that easy a message to convey.

Just something to think about. I know that there will be a generation who will return to the farm at some point just as there will be those kids that will make their way in the world with other pursuits. But, regardless of the path taken, these individuals with farm roots are and will be some of the best advocates for agriculture that we have to offer. We just need to give them the opportunity.

P.S.: Kara, you’re right. We DO make a pretty good team.