In theory, this should work. I should have plenty of space. But I also have children being raised in the digital age. Receiving the alert that I’m out of space triggers me to check out my media album to see what kind of amateur videography I can find, done by two curious farm kids. 

They once recorded an eight-minute video of cats breeding out by the barn, though they lost interest (or perhaps got confused) and left the phone lying in minute two. 

They’ve also been known to start the video recorder, leave the phone sitting and record several minutes of our family working cattle together. Certainly not our finest work, though it could have been nominated for best drama had the dialogue been cleaned up a bit. 

Raising farm kids in the automatic age takes some real effort. We often tell them about how much things have changed since we were raised on the farm and ranch — and that wasn’t too long ago.

This summer, while taking inventory of 17 half-drank bottles of water at junior nationals, I told our children bottled water didn’t even exist when I was a child. This made their heads spin. 

“How did you drink water?! From your hands?!”

At this point I had to remind them we did have cups in 1984. 

When traveling home to Kansas to celebrate Christmas, I found an opportunity for a life lesson in a Pilot truck stop. Our young son stood at the sink with his arm extended, waiting for the soap to fall. He didn’t move a muscle, just waited. After studying this predicament, I asked him if he knew how to use a manual soap dispenser. He looked at me, as lost as last year’s Easter egg. 

It was a big day for him, learning to manually pump the hand soap. A week later in his Christmas stocking, he received a bar of soap for a true pioneer experience.  

DNA testing, sexed semen, in vitro fertilization (IVF) — so much has changed in the last twenty years. I can only begin to imagine what our children will experience as they continue to raise cattle as the sixth generation. 

What will not be replaced by automation, AI (artificial intelligence, not insemination) or technology are three things I believe will only become more critically important as time passes:

Hard work — We may develop new ways to do things, but nothing will ever replace the
person who shows up to get the job done.

Honesty — The data is only as good as the people who submit it.

Resilience — We’re operating in an industry with many things out of our control including weather, markets and regulation. Resilience allows producers not only to endure, but to thrive.

A major benefit of raising kids in this age of digital progress is the fact that they always seem to be one step ahead of my husband and me. Our daughter was running the scales a few months back, in charge shouting out the weights. We got a bit confused when she began shouting out letters. 

Remember what I said about data?

Editor’s note: Lindsay Sankey is a freelance writer from Economy, Ind.