“There’s a first time for everything.” Many people grow up experiencing many first time things, and when they get older, they look back in life and see how far they have come. I have had many firsts in my life, some were better than others, all my first have many stories that go along with them.
Living on a farm, you have many firsts growing up, especially when you are involved in multiple things like 4-H, showing cattle, and FFA (Future Farmers of America). I’ll start off telling you the firsts I had while showing cattle, and everything I have learned from it as well. Showing cattle can be a fun and rewarding experience for people of all ages; however, the life lessons they learn living on a farm can be carried on throughout their life. When a child is trusted with the responsibility of raising a market beef, he or she learns responsibility, integrity, dedication, and record keeping skills. The animals are usually bought in the fall, and may or may not be halter broken.
My first time halter breaking a calf was pretty scary, and I had to do it on a daily basis. It taught me how to keep a schedule, which translates later to life skills that will be needed while working job. I had to try multiple different times with halter breaking the calf, and every time I did it the calf got more tame, and easier to work with. When my dad first told me I was going to halter break a calf, I was terrified.
First dad handed me the end of the halter, while it was on the calf, and he was holding on to it with me. Once the calf started jumping around and started to run me over, I quickly let go and ran away. My dad yelled at me to come back and to try and hold onto the halter again. My dad never once let go, if the calf started jumping, running or almost running him over, he would still be holding on. I soon got used to the calf and soon after I was leading the calf by myself without my dad’s help.
Another experience that I remember doing my for the first time was doing my first 4-H record book. I hated every moment of it and when I was filling out the papers I had to keep asking myself “why am I having to do this record book, and fill out papers. Once I turned my record book into my 4-H club leader, I was handed a check that was called my “premium money” for participating in the things I did at fair and for doing a record book. After I did my record book, everybody kept telling me that it would get easier and easier every year, and that would also teach me many different skills that would benefit me later in life. Record keeping skills will be important to many students later in life, whether they are keeping a family budget or working in a specialized field. Learning these skills early in life can help a student do better in school as well, because they have learned time management skills. I joined 4-H when I was in 4th grade, and was 8 years old when I first started showing cattle. I joined FFA when I was a freshman in highschool, and I will be in it until I am 21 years old.
I remember when I first drove my dad's skid loader. I was 14 years old, and it was a day after school when my brother and I were helping my dad on the farm. My dad had told my brother to drive the skid loader to the farm to move something, but he was already busy doing something else. Meanwhile, I was standing around watching them work. Once my brother was done with the tractor, he told me to get into the skid loader and that he was going to show me how to drive it. So I got into the skid loader, pulled the seatbelt down, and looked up and saw so many different buttons. I didn’t know which one to push to start it. I asked my brother how to start it, and he described to me what the button looked like and started pointing at it. I asked my brother so many questions during this process, including what all the buttons were for, how to go forward, back-up, make the skid loader go faster, and how to dump the bucket. After asking all the questions, I finally did what my dad wanted us to do without any wrecks or injuries. Since then, I have learned how to drive the skid loader without my brother around, and now my dad has me do things with it when my brother isn’t around.
There are so many firsts that farmers and farm kids have, like me. I love experiencing how to do things for the first time, and being taught by a family member. It has been going on for generations, and I hope that it continues after me.