Ranching women bring their babies with them and keep on going while they juggle their work to fit in with nap-time.
Six-year-old Kalee Pincott's grandmother, Rita Pincott, and aunt, Tiffany Pincott, are helping to show her the ropes on the family's large cattle ranch at Buffalo Creek.
Kalee says milking her beloved cow – that she named Kayla – is her "favourite thing to do with grandma."
Getting off the school bus, still decked out in her fancy duds with pink boots and belt-buckle bling, she heads over to demonstrate her milking skills.
Given that she already loves life on the ranch, Kalee is lucky to have Rita as a mentor, who comes from strong ranching "stock."
Rita was born into it as the child of Shorty and Alice Horn at Watch Lake, where her family ran a huge cattle and dude ranch.
"I worked cattle at the guest ranch at Watch Lake Lodge."
Along with her sisters – Enid "Dimps" Horn, who runs the lodge and ranch today, and Doreen (Horn) Teichgrab who still works there – the Horn women were always in the saddle, pushing cows somewhere or back again.
Noting her grandmother, Sadie Eden, was an area homesteader and rancher with Rita's grandfather, Stan Eden, she says the livelihood and lifestyle are "in my blood."
Rita married Ted Pincott in 1968 and had four sons – Tal, Kent, Levi and Wayne – between 1972 and 1982, and she just carried on with her ranch work "timed to the naps," she explains.
"I used to have a big old English pram down there – it stayed in the barn."
While she loves the life, with her and Ted's 330 cows calving out each year, there are some big challenges in holding down the fort alone at times, she notes.
Rita says running for the neighbour's help and chains to pull birthing calves in trouble are among her worst memories.
However, she is delighted to have all four of her sons, their wives and her grandchildren all living within two kilometres of the home ranch.
Tiffany is married to Wayne, and they live on the family ranch with their two young sons. She was also "born in boots" being raised on her own family's ranch at Anahim Lake, Tiffany says, adding her grandparents on both sides also ranched.
Now, as she balances chores and motherhood, she is another female ranching mentor for her niece, Kalee.
Tiffany explains it comes naturally to her to spend most of her days in the saddle, alongside Rita, while the men are off seeing to other ranch work.
"Where I grew up, the women always rode the horses. The guys only ride when they have to."
Tiffany and Wayne run their own growing herd, now at about 150 head. She and Rita carry much of the load when their combined 500 calves arrive each spring.
It is "kids on quads and babies in backpacks" while these hardworking women herd cattle, pitch hay, milk cows, muck out barns and do just about every other conceivable job that arises on any given day.
As she sits outside nursing her son by a picnic table, Tiffany explains she and Rita have chased a lot of cows off the highway, and still do.
"With a baby on your hip, chasing cows down the road," she croons softly....