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Children play an important role on the farm

One day these kids will grow up and their parents hope that they take over the farm.
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From left, Julie, a 13-year-old German Sheppard, always stays close to the kids, Cole, Quinn and Morgan Anderson.

KISBEY - Right Cross Ranch is located south of Kisbey and is owned by Jim and Sarah Anderson.

The couple dreamed of owning a ranch while living in Alberta. In 2010 they came to Saskatchewan to make their dream come true. At the time they had no children, but they always envisioned raising their future kids on a farm.

With a large herd of cattle, calving season is well underway and the land soon will need to be seeded.

It is all hands on deck when the time comes. But now, each day on the ranch, the Andersons have three helpers, their two daughters Morgan and Quinn and their son Cole.

These three youngsters are not afraid to get dirty and help out when they are doing their assigned chores. But it is not all work and no play on the farm.

Morgan, 9, is the oldest. Her jobs start with feeding and walking the dogs including Julie, the 13-year-old German Sheppard, which can always be found near the kids.

Morgan's other duty is taking care of abandoned calves. Sometimes cows reject their calves and they need to be bottle-fed, so Morgan feeds them and gives them straw for bedding. She enjoys playing with the bottle babies but dislikes it when she has to clean their pens, especially when the calves get gurgling guts.

"The smell just about makes me puke," she said.

When Morgan is not in school, she helps with running cattle through the chutes. It is her job to run the head gate and the back gate, and she stated, "I am really good at it.

"I have to help my mom when we deliver beef boxes. And I am in charge of keeping track of the list of people who have gotten their beef by highlighting their name."

Morgan has ridden horses since she could walk, and her first horse's name was Mister. She now rides her pony Brownie, which is quick and likes running barrels.

When Morgan becomes an adult, she wants to farm and train horses.

Quinn is 7 years old, and she too helps with delivering boxed beef and is in charge of the money, a job she loves to do.

"I like money," she said.

She also does the dishes to help mom out.

Moving cattle is part of ranch life and this is often done on horseback. When they move cattle, Quinn rides her horse Kinger. It is Quinn's job to ride at the back of the herd and chase down the cows that are trying to escape.

She enjoys chasing cattle, likes to go fast when riding and likes braiding her horse's yellow mane and tail to make it look pretty.

They have had two bottle-fed calves this year named Sunset and Night.

"I like playing with the calves, but they have new moms now and I miss my calf Sunset," said Quinn.

Quinn's worst job is having to do things outside when it is cold, as she freezes.

When she grows up, she wants to show her cows, train horses and live on a farm.

Cole,4, is the youngest, but do not let the age fool you, this young fellow knows all about farm equipment.

He helps his dad clean out the calf barn with the skid steer and helps make snow piles outside for sliding.

Cole loves putting straw bales in the calf barn and helping drive the tractors, seeders, combines and semis.

He has also been riding since the age of one and now rides an older horse Roanie. He likes its colour. When he rides, he needs to stay close to his mom, because when the other horses start to run, his horse wants to run too, he said.

Cole's worst job is breaking and chipping the ice in the water troughs.

"One time I fell in, and I was frozen like a popsicle," he said. "I had to run to the house to warm up."

Cole wants to go to kindergarten so he can learn about farming and become a grain farmer when he is older.

Morgan and Quinn help out because it helps the family, they said, it makes less work for everyone, and it makes the work easier.

Cole on the other hand, helps out because he is not allowed to stay home alone.

One day these kids will grow up and their parents hope that they take over the farm, which they build as a family, knowing that they did their part to help out, learn and grow.

Farming is not for everyone, but to a true farm kid, it is everything.

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