This is agriculture!

Like several others have mentioned here, I am the 3rd generation on this farm. My grandparents homesteaded here in 1903. They boarded a train on their wedding night and headed west to check out a piece of land that was available to homestead. All they had heard was that this land had a small creek running across it. They settled here and had 12 children on this farm. I am always amazed at the fortitude these early settlers must have had as my grandparents lost their 3 oldest children in a two week period... two to rheumatic fever and one to an ruptured appendix. I think this would probably destroy most of us today, but they continued on and raised another 9 children.

Shorthorn cattle arrived here shortly after they arrived in 1903, and part of our farm was broken by a Shorthorn steer and a large mule hooked together. Apparently they worked very well together. All the farm work was done by horses, and in a few years there were over 50 horses tied in our barn, just to do the field work. I am old enough to remember the last of these teams which were used mainly to feed the cattle in the winter, but I can also remember over 20 sets of harness hanging by each stall. In 1917, the Scottish government gathered an entire ship load of Shorthorns and brought them across the ocean to Canada. They were then shipped by rail over 2500 miles to Brandon, Manitoba where they were sold in an auction. Scotland had been through some devastating floods and the Scottish government arranged this sale to assist some of their farmers. This sale was called the Scottish Flood Relief sale, and my grandfather wanted to help his countrymen out. He took the train ( over 200 miles) to Brandon, and purchased his first purebred registered Shorthorns. I doubt very much if he had any idea what he was starting when he purchased these cattle, as we are still raising Shorthorn cattle today.

I feel very fortunate in that I have had the opportunity to do the only thing I have ever wanted to do. I do not remember any time in my life when raising cattle wasn't what I wanted to do. I will say that there have been many 'bumps" along this road, but looking back, I do not think I was wrong in sticking it out. I may not be rich in terms of my bank account, by I feel that I have been given more wealth that cannot be purchased with money.

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