Two years ago Kandee Lucas-Hagerman took stock of her life and realized that running two farms and two busy garden centres while also trying to raise a teenaged son was likely going to send her to an early grave. Such revelations in the life of this Napanee beef farmer come from time to time; this latest one, though, demanded immediate attention.

Today, Kandee is down to one busy garden centre and has gone from 130 head of Maine-Anjou cattle to 50. And for the first time in many years she has help from a partner, someone to look after one side of the business when she’s not there. It’s not something Kandee will freely talk about, but after spending much of her adult life as a single parent, she admits marriage is in the cards "sometime in the next couple of years."

In 1982 when she took over "the family farm" the expectation by some was that she’d continue to farm with Black Angus as her father had done. A trip to Toronto to check out some Angus changed her mind. "I didn’t like what I saw, they were walking scarecrows," she recalls.

When it came to buying cattle, there were also other considerations. "I was a single parent, I had to be concerned about finances." Because Kandee’s son Chris was only four years old at the time she also worried about keeping him safe around the cattle. All her concerns, she says, were answered by the Maine-Anjou breed. "Maine’s fit the bill ... It costs less to feed them per pound of grain and they’re noted for their docility. An extremely quiet cattle."

Right away Kandee "went to the OMAF’ office" and started to do breed research. She didn’t know it at the time but her interest in the various characteristics that make for a good breed would gradually blossom into a whole new business in the field of genetics.

Kandee says she first started down that path because "there was a large contingent of Maine breeders" in the area but a limited selection of semen. "We needed more genetics.

"Being the entrepreneur I said, ‘why don’t we as an association bring in a little bit of this and a little bit of that. In the end they wouldn’t part with their money’."

Instead Kandee says she bought almost all the semen herself "and began researching. It was detective work, looking for semen and accumulating it." She says breeders began calling her in search of a particular semen and from there the business grew. The years of hard work and searching paid off. These days she refers to herself as "North America’s largest supplier of outcross fullblood genetics."

As fall approaches Kandee will be spending a lot of her time preparing cattle for agricultural shows. Her bull has been champion at the Toronto Royal for nine years consecutively. And for four years in a row she had the all Canadian points champion bull.

Already this year she’s shown a steer at the Calgary Stampede. Shows are also planned in Regina, Texas and Toronto.

Right about now Agnes Hagerman will also be turning her attention to the show ring. After having the grand champion female at the Royal last year, Agnes is hoping for more great results this time around.

It’s no coincidence the two women share a last name; years ago they were in-laws for a brief period. Now they’re good friends, sharing a passion for the business of farming and finding common ground in the knowledge that they’re the decision-makers in an industry traditionally run by men.

Agnes does get both help and support from her husband, Ernie, a truck driver for the Township of Stonemills. But when it comes to the day to day operation of the Tamworth farm, the job is really down to Agnes. "I make a lot of the decisions but we discuss it before it’s put in stone," she says, referring mostly to the Simmental cattle she and Ernie have raised since the early eighties.

Like Kandee, Agnes has been farming as long as she can remember. "It all started when I was about three or four," she says. "I always had a love for cattle. I milked cows before school when I was in public school." Her parents had a small separating operation and shipped to a creamery in Tamworth. Agnes’ own children, two daughters and one son, are involved in the business but so far only Jason has visions of one day farming full-time.

After her father died in 1971 Agnes continued farming with a herd of commercial cattle, as she explains, "little bits of everything, not papered." Then when she and Ernie married a couple of years later they started looking around for a single breed. She says that after studying "a lot of breeds" she was struck by the look of a Simmental calf spotted at a plowing match. It was, she says, a good decision. "Their growth has really impressed me - they’re a cattle known for milk and growth . Easy keeping and they maintain themselves on pasture really well."

If Agnes had her way all her time would be spent with the cattle. But she admits money is always a consideration. It’s the reason why Ernie continues to work out full-time and why Agnes will, this November, enter her 27th year driving a school bus. "Cash flow for grocery money," she quips. She’s figured out when the job will come to an end though. "I’m down to the second generation of kids," she laughs. "When I get to the grandchildren, I’ll have to quit."

As The AgriNews recently reported, Agnes also raises rabbits as part of the farming operation. She says it’s a pretty good sideline, one that will continue to generate money in later years when some of the other physical demands become difficult.

Packing so much into a day is just a way of life for Agnes, much as it is for Pauline Embury, a friend of both Agnes and Kandee, and farm manager of the nearby River Valley Poultry Farms.

The family operation out of Newburgh is headed up by Pauline’s father; in fact, both father and daughter can be found working on the front lines most hours of the day. A few buildings away a brother runs River Valley Polled Herefords and another brother, she explains, farms on his own.

A typical day, she says, starts at around 7 a.m. and doesn’t really wind down until well after 9 p.m. "Every day there are different challenges," says Pauline. "There could be a problem in the layer barns with one of the computers. I may have to trouble shoot. There’s a barn under construction right now so I’m always supervising there."

River Valley has four pullet barns where day old chicks are raised to nineteen weeks. Eggs are packed on site and then shipped to Burnbrae Farms in Lyn for grading and retail. The grading, says Pauline, is the only real difference between the two businesses.

As for what the future holds, Pauline isn’t looking much beyond the new pullet barn currently being built. She shares a similar philosophy with her colleagues Agnes and Kandee that running the operation is, in itself, a fulfilling pursuit. "It’s a passion," says Kandee. "It’s a lifestyle like no other. Would I encourage youth today to follow in my footsteps? Probably not. I don’t think there’s a lot of moral support from our governments for our industry.

"But there’s nothing really like it. It’s therapy for me and I love it."