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16 THE RURAL VOICE
minus -20 they didn't work and in
February that only meant they could
work two or three days.
"We could have built a lot quicker
if vGe were starting this time of year,
but what do you do?" Gary says.
The Beckers milk about 45 head
of cattle and have 300 acres of owned
land plus 250 acres of rented land.
They have about 80-90 acres of
cashcrops but most of the land is
producing feed for their own dairy
operation and some beef cattle on a
nearby farm.
Gary and Nancy share the barn
work. "If Nancy didn't want to go to
the barn I don't think I'd want to go,"
Gary says. There's a lot of
communications happening when
you work together, he says. "If Nancy
was working out (at a job) and 1 was
in the barn, then the only time you'd
see eachother is at meal time."
The children also share the work
and so there's the opportunity
to catch up on their busy world
during chores.
Despite the fact they have more
experience in dealing with fire than
anyone could dream of, things don't
get any easier the second time
around, Gary jokes grimly. Looking
back they can see that things worked
out but at the time, it would be
overwhelming and stressful.
In 1983 they had a two-year-old
and another baby on the way (they
have five children today from public
school to university age). The interest
rates were 16 or 17 per cent.
"We'd had a really high debt load
and no equity but we were young
then and we had lots of energy and
ideas and gumption. Today we maybe
have a little more equity but a lot less
energy."
Still, by going through this
tragedy twice, they've had two
chances to see the best of human
nature.
"Until you've had something like
this you just don't believe how good
natured people are," Gary says. "We
do a lot of whining but we really
shouldn't. There's a lot of people
worse off."
"A lot of prayer was put into all
this," Nancy says. "We had a lot of
people praying for us."
It must have worked because
despite troubles that might have
ended some farming careers, they're
still going strong.0