10 toes. 10 fingers. Baby snuggles quickly turn into gate getters, tractor drivers, livestock showmen, CEOs and more. From missing Sunday service and family dinners during calving season to driving an hour away for baseball practice in the heart of hay season, raising a farm kid takes just a little more.

Have you taken time to think about what it takes to run a farm? It’s not always the tractors, equipment, employees or capital. It takes a village to raise children, and it’s the village that keeps all aspects of the farm running smoothly.

It’s calling on the mothers of your kids’ friends asking for a last-minute favor to drive them to whatever practice game or school event is happening. It’s praying your kids understand you love them, and still needing your own mother to show up to tuck those blessings in at night when your day stretches a little too long. It’s having friends pick up birthday cakes to make sure your kids feel special even if the birthday party gets delayed because it’s harvest. 

It’s easy to overlook the ladies of the farm. The women behind the scenes are making sure kids, spouses, employees and everyone in between are fed, clothed, bathed and where they need to be on time. And the same women are mowing and baling the hay, making parts runs, and staying up all night with the calf born in a blizzard while their babies sleep comfortably in their beds.  

This Mother’s Day, pause and take a moment to thank not just the farm wives, moms and grandmas who are bringing those yummy treats and farm meals to the fields at sunsets. But the grandmas, the aunts, the best friends and even the teenage daughters who are stepping in to help get those farm kids to practice, feeding them and loving them while we put in the long hours of being a farm momma. 

About the Author

Kayla W. is a Midwestern farmer, wife and mother who quit her 9 to 5 job to rediscover her passion for writing and agriculture. Since then, she’s been sharing her successes, struggles and how to balance wrangling cattle, riding horses, baling hay, raising her children, being a farmer’s wife and owning a business day by day. You can follow along with Chronicles of Kayla at www.chroniclesofkayla.com or on the following social channels.

Facebook, Chronicles of Kayla

Instagram @chroniclesofkayla_

TikTok @chroniclesofkayla