In the field or in the barn, women are a minority on our family operation. It’s not by design. It’s just how the cards were dealt.

But the adults taught my brother and me the same way.

Growing up, my grandfather, father and uncles taught my younger brother, Chayton, and me the same basic skills in crop production. On the cattle side, my mother did the same thing as the driving force behind our cattle operation. Yet somewhere along the line, my brother and I developed different passions for agriculture.

Most days, Chayton heads to the tractor, and I gravitate to the barn. It’s what we like, so it’s only natural. The result is that my mother and I are the reason Day Cattle Farm exists today. Still, all through my childhood, I’ve watched people at a cattle event ask for my father.

In some ways, I was fearless because my family raised me in a way that encouraged me to go after all my dreams regardless of my gender. When I entertained ideas of becoming a veterinarian, embryologist or ruminant nutritionist, they never batted an eye.

I started taking full reins of our herd management when I started high school in 2012. And while my relatives never second-guessed my involvement in agriculture, others did. Time and again, I encountered people looking for a man to talk to about our feed purchases, breeding decisions and more. Clearly, few people believed that a teenage girl was running our small cow-calf herd.

As I headed to college, I felt the perception of my role in agriculture start to change. I rarely encountered someone who questioned my participation in the industry, especially as an animal sciences student at Kansas State University. In fact, our professors encouraged women to be part of courses such as the bull sale class. They gave us the same opportunities as the guys to prepare bulls and females for sale pictures and videos as well as the sale.

Transitioning into my current role at Prairie Farmer, people are even more accepting of women in the industry. I am surrounded by coworkers who don’t see a young woman entering this role; instead, they see potential in another individual with enthusiasm to inform the backbone of agriculture.

We’re covering stories about women going back to run the family farm, establishing new Extension events and being a part of research studies.

And as I talk with Extension educators, scientists, agronomists and many other industry leaders, they never doubt my knowledge, passion and place in this industry. In fact, every interview feels like I’m back in the shop after a long day of planting or harvest, listening to my grandfather, father and uncles talk about what is happening around the farm.

And truly, that’s what agriculture is all about. Just a bunch of people working together to prosper the industry, no matter their gender.

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