In a short nine months, my high school senior will walk across the stage with honors to receive her diploma. While Cassie recently shared that she is counting down the days to spend more days in the barn, as ‘Senioritis’ has already kicked in, she is not only beyond ready, but also very prepared for her next life chapter.
Of course, I’m going to miss Cassie as she heads off to college next fall. But, I think it’s a toss up who is going to miss her more. Me, or her father.
Her father has counted on Cassie numerous times over the years to help him in the barn and in the fields. She is his go-to girl and is always one to strap on her boots and put on her work clothes and help in any capacity she can. From driving tractors, plowing and planting fields, to taking the lead with administering repro shots and conducting genomic reports, Cassie pretty much can tell you anything and everything that is going on at our farm in East Moline, Illinois.
Farm Kids Stand Out
Cassie’s senior year schedule is a good mix that works with farm life schedule. She is taking dual credit AP classes, like Spanish 4 and Statistics, as well as a Coop class that allows her to get credit for working on the dairy farm. Cassie loves that class, which allows her to leave school an hour early to head home to work on our family dairy farm.
On the first day of class, the Coop teacher asked students to shake his hand and give a proper introduction. And, when our small-frame daughter gripped her teacher’s hands, he smiled and said only a few students knew how to give a good handshake and Cassie was one of them. After Labor Day, Cassie turned in her logbook to be graded, that has all the hours she worked the month prior. The teacher was shocked that she had already completed the class’s required hours of working for the whole quarter in one month. That is a farm kid for you—a kid who has no problem of clocking 5 to 8 hours of work in one day, in addition to going to school.
Realize All They Do, After They Are Gone
Undoubtedly, farm kids like Cassie will be missed. And sometimes you don’t really realize all that those farm kids do until they are gone. This will certainly be the case when Cassie leaves. She does a lot of small things that you don’t really put a lot of thought about until after the fact, like updating PCDart, entering calvings and breedings into the computer. She makes timecards and genomic reports. She is our relief calf feeder and always seems to be one that moves round bales. Lots of small jobs that have a big impact.
Slow Down Time
My advice is to try and slow down time, farmers. I know, easier said than done, especially as harvest approaches. But your kids grow up in the blink of an eye. Of course, we all know that. But for those of us that are in the fast lane with kids graduating, we are getting a lesson on just how fast time goes. I encourage you all to thank your children for all the help they do on the farm and start thinking about who their replacement will be before they head off to college.
