Wheat harvest started in earnest the second week of June, and with it came long hours in the tractor, dinners in the field, and an enormous amount of fun for my almost 3-year-old son. He loves riding along in the farm equipment, but maybe even more so, he loves imitating all the farm work with his toys.
One specific night a few weeks ago, we returned home late from the fields, but before he willingly submitted to bedtime, he demanded that we get some work done with his toys. He told me the hay couldn’t wait, and we had to bail it that night.
We hooked up his baler to the Caterpillar tractor, and up-and-down the carpeted living room he went, and I was assigned the task of picking up the bales. So, for the second time that day, I found myself driving across the field loading up a trailer of hay bales.
I wouldn’t have it any other way, but working there beside my son, I thought of a phrase I see often on social media that goes something like this, “This is why we do it.”
As that thought crossed my mind, I realized I didn’t agree with it.
I don’t do the long, hard hours because my son thinks it’s fun to help or to imitate. I keep the long hours because I love the work.
I like the challenge of nursing sick cattle back to health. I find the rhythm of harvesting and picking up hay soothing. I like the idea that I’m helping to feed my neighbors a nutritious product that they love.
It brings me great joy that my child sees all the hard work that goes into making those products, and that he loves being on the farm and helping. I would never want him to feel forced to continue our tradition of farming, but I’m so glad that he can grow up around it.
No, my child isn’t the reason I farm, but I’m awfully glad that he gets to grow up enjoying it. And until he gets old enough not to need me, I’m happy to get down on my knees and be his expert grain cart driver – even when he bosses me around!
The author is a dairy farmer in Kansas and a former associate editor at Hoard’s Dairyman. Raised on a 150-cow dairy near Valley Center, Kansas, Maggie graduated from Kansas State University with degrees in agricultural communications and animal sciences.
