On any team it’s important to know your role.
Fran Erven, who lives on a farm near Clanwilliam, Man., knows her role during calving season.
“It’s my job to keep the bed warm when he’s checking the cattle on those cold winter nights,” said Erven, who got a laugh out of the audience with that line at the young farm woman’s panel held Jan. 20 in Brandon as part of Manitoba Ag Days.
Joining Erven on this year’s panel to share their experiences on the farm were Charlotte Crawley, also of Clanwilliam, and Carlie Whetter of Alexander.
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During her presentation Erven readily admitted that she doesn’t work with the cattle or operate machinery on her farm, possibly because she hasn’t yet adjusted to the concept of living on a farm.
“After four and a half years (of marriage) it’s still sinking in that I’m a farm wife,” said Erven, who grew up in the town of Minnedosa and had minimal knowledge of farm life.
Someday in the future, Erven said, she would like to help out her husband, Keith, by driving tractors and working with the cattle. But until that day comes, she believes her contribution of raising a three-year-old daughter, working as a nurse and running the home is more than enough.
“I know what I’m doing is important to my family and me,” she said.
Whetter, like Erven, didn’t envision a future as a farm wife, even though she grew up on a farm near Kenton, Man., northeast of Virden.
But her new role, managing a household with two preschoolers and a third child on the way, has made Whetter appreciate what she had when she was a kid.
She remembers her mom would meet the school bus at the end of the day, and likely have a snack ready in the kitchen.
“I want to do the same for my kids,” said Whetter, who also had a nugget of advice for farm women and mothers of young children everywhere.
“We try and have a date night (with her husband, Darren) once in awhile,” she said. “It’s nice to touch base someplace other than home.”
Although she isn’t married nor has children, Crawley also had advice for the farm women listening to her presentation at Ag Days – it’s time to ask for a raise.
“The position of farm wife actually refers to bookkeeper, child-care provider, parts girl, chauffeur, cook, cattle handler, rodeo clown, combine driver, maid service, laundry lady and complaints department,” said Crawley, who runs a grain, forage and feeder cattle operation with her dad, Glen.
“I feel that farm wives are not given the credit or paycheque that they deserve.”
