Women in Simmental Country
BEEF BUSINESS IS A REAL “family
W
DOREEN STEEVES and MARLENE GAUNCE
hen Doreen Steeves and her daughter Marlene Gaunce talk about their lives as farm women raising families, looking after livestock and managing off-farm careers, you can tell which tree the apple came from. Both are hard working women that are passionate about the livestock industry, committed to family values, thriving on a busy day knowing everything needed will get done, and realizing if you love what you do and add a bit of fun to the project, it may not be work at all. Doreen and her husband Joseph Steeves, who have been married 59 years, raised their four children on the farm they still operate near the village of Stoney Creek, New Brunswick, just south of Moncton. Marlene, who is one of four Steeves children, began her own farming career after marrying husband Peter Gaunce. They began keeping cattle and raising their family of five boys together, about an hour north of the Steeves’ home place near the community of New Scotland.
Focusing on the production of purebred Simmental cattle, they are among the Canadian average of smaller beef operations. As a result, both couples have maintained off-farm careers as they developed their farms as they raised their families. Everyone was actively involved in 4-H, and they attended beef shows primarily in the Atlantic Canada Region. It was a real juggling act at times to make everything work, but both women say it was, and is the best life in which to raise a family. Born and raised on a mixed farm in the local area, Doreen is a graduate of one of the now long-disappeared, one-room school houses; she later went on to marry husband Joe, and they started raising a few cattle — mostly Shorthorns. Joe worked for 18
affair”
many years before retiring as a federal meat inspector with Agriculture Canada and Doreen worked at Eatons in nearby Moncton. “I believe it was in about 1978 that this new beef breed to Canada caught Joe’s eye,” says Doreen. “We had a few Shorthorn but he liked the looks of these Simmental cattle as they had a larger frame and he figured they would be easier to finish.” They started with a couple females and later a couple bulls, “we just kept slowly building the herd,” says Doreen. Today their long-operating Joe-Dreen Farms Ltd. is running about 80 head of purebred Simmental cattle, including approximately 33 cows and heifers as well as their calves. While Doreen at 77, and Joe at 80 are semi-retired, their son-in-law Don Pauley and grandson Trevor have taken on more of the day-to-day work in running the farm.
The Steeves continued with their off-farm careers and building their Simmental herd. While this was all happening, they were also raising a family of four children; Marlene as well as daughters Marcie and Heather, and a son Billy. Unfortunately Bill passed away from cancer at age 40. All children were raised around and active in the beef business and were also involved with 4-H beef programs and attended events and shows. “It was a great family experience,” says Doreen. “We were all involved in 4-H projects with the children, when Joe and I would show cattle at various shows and exhibitions we’d usually take all four children with us.”