Farmer's Daughter...

Once upon a time on a dairy farm near Amulree, a young farmer and his wife decided it was time to start their family. The farmer, whom we will call John, dreamt of having a son; a baby boy that would grow up and join the family dairy farm just as he himself had recently. A son that would carry on the herd of purebred Holsteins that had become a point of pride for John and his dad. However, in May 1984, baby #1 made HER grand entrance into the world...followed by baby girl #2 one year later...and #3 not quite two years after that. CRAP! Farmer John REALLY wanted his son, so he and his wife, Sheryl, decided the fourth time could be the charm. So, in March 1988...BAM! Baby girl #4 was born. Dang eh?

Figuring that baby #5 would be a girl as well, they decided to cut their losses at four at give up on the dream of a son. Plus, really, four girls and his wife was enough estrogen under one roof for John. He would just have to hope that one of his girls would bring home a farm boy or rework his plans.

For those of you who don't know (or haven't figured it out yet), John is my dad and I was baby girl #1. 

Those who know our family know that we were not the girliest family of girls at home on the farm. Sure, we wore pink and had barbies, but as I recall, my barn boots were pink and our barbies were hardly touched except to either cut their hair off or to use them for some sort of boobie-trap. We liked to play house, but not with the beautiful wooden play kitchen set we received for Christmas one year. House was usually "Farm" and consisted of elaborately constructed hay and straw houses and of course a barn with stalls. Our bikes served as horses and whatever was left over in Grandma's garden was "supper." 

While most kids have house chores that they are responsible for either daily or weekly, much to our mom's dismay we were not much use to her in the house. So we were given barn chores instead...milking, feeding calves, bedding pens, you name it, we did it. All of our friends knew that if we were to go somewhere, the chores had to be done first. So it was not uncommon to have the four of us plus one or two more girls out in the barn choring like crazy so that we would all have time to get dolled up and make it to the dance.

While eventually my two middle sisters decided the cows and the barn really weren't their cup of tea, my youngest sister and I have been cow girls from the word go. It was impossible to keep us out of the barn once we could walk and both of us can tell you the entire family tree of each cow in the barn. Our cows are to us like your dogs and cats are to you...our pets. (Only our pets make us money!)

Dad also passed on his love of showing cattle to us. All of us showed calves at the school fair and we graduated on to the dairy 4-H club from there. Suzie didn't last long with this hobby, but Mandy, Jill and I have all stuck with it. It was always a given that Jill and I would be in 4-H  and would fight over who got to have the best calf. Mandy really didn't care but would join up after we bribed her into it and would take whatever calf we picked out and trained for her...after selecting our own first of course.

So, just like that, Farmer John's dream of having a son seemed not to matter anymore as he had two daughters (and sometimes three) that would gladly stay up until 4 am to calve a cow, skip school to go to a show or sale, argue with him over what bull to breed a cow to and, most of all, had a genuine love of the cows and the business not unlike his own. 

Fast forward...I am married to a dairy farmer and while Carm is currently farming with his dad and brother, we have lofty ambitions of having our own farm one day (You have to dream big right?). 

Farmer John also will not have to rework his plans made way back before baby girl #1 arrived. Jill and her fiancé Kurtis are currently working with dad and mom to join the farm business.

So, the morals of this long-winded story?:

1. Be careful what you wish for. I.e. Wish = 1 son Reality = 4 daughters

2. Girls can join a farm business just as easily as boys.

3. As a good dairy farmer, you spend your life breeding cows for heifer (female) calves...isn't it a given that this strategy may carry over?...just saying...

Carman REALLY wanted our baby #1 to be a boy as well, but out SHE came! I was VERY quick to remind him of where I came from and that farm girls are just as good as farm boys. Will Maddie share the same passion for the cows and the dairy business that my dad passed on to me? 

So far the odds look good, but I guess we will have to wait and see!