The Ranch — BWV
I remember being a young girl and playing in our basement that I was a cowgirl. We always had horses
and rodeoed, my dad and brother wore their cowboy hats everywhere we went, but it was until I was in
my early teens when I fully experienced being a cowboy-girl.
5 Generations on the Ranch
My mom and dad were first generation ranchers on this land. Our family has been in the industry for
over 5 generations, but we broke out on our own and mom and dad became the first generation in our
family to ranch on the riverbanks of the McLeod.
We spent the first 2 years at the new place being a cowboy family, fixing fence, treating stock, checking
pastures, and fixing up the old building to use as horse barns and machinery sheds. It was long days,
short nights, no cell phone service, cold and dewy mornings, rainy afternoons, and warm evenings.
I got to know my family quite well over that first summer, my dad was passionate about this new land,
my brother was competitive and wanted to be the hardest worker, and my mom had more try then all
of us combined.
It didn’t become obvious to me within that first year, but as time went on, I learned that my parents
stuck their neck out for the future of our family, not for themselves. Mom and dad could have retired
and travelled the world before we expanded our ranch, but instead they decided to invest in the future
generations of our family.
My brother on the Ranch
My brother is the second generation on that ranch, he continues to work several jobs, including
ranching, to keep expanding the ranch for his children, grandchildren and beyond. Although we’ve only
been on this piece of land for a short time, as a family we have poured blood, sweat, lots of laughs and
some tears into making it sustainable ranch land.
My nephew is now the third generation on this ranch, and God willing his generation will inherit this
land, but they will also inherit the passion. They will feed the world, learn to work for what they have,
and better it for their children to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors before them.
Due to the passion my parents had growing up in agriculture they wanted to provide my brother and I
the same childhood as them. Throughout the years both of us kids inherited the passion of becoming
ranchers and staying in agriculture making us the 6th generation in our family to play a role in feeding
the world. With my nephew being the 7th generation, the passion still burns strong, and we will
continue to raise our children the same way that many generations have before us.
Every family has their own story on how their farm or ranch came about, what’s yours?
