Long summer days may get uncomfortably hot at times, but they also offer plenty of daylight hours to get things done on the ranch.

Over the weekend, our family took advantage of the nice weather and tackled some to-dos around the ranch. Of course, the kids tagged along for the ride, helping us water trees, put up an electric fence, work on state fair bull exhibits and move hay home from the fields.

READ: Of cattle, people & why we're in this crazy business

With plenty of snacks and drinks, we kept the whining at bay, and after a quick nap in the pickup, the kids had energy to follow along as we did our work. The kids are troopers, and I’m hoping they will learn the value of putting in a hard day’s work by watching their parents work side-by-side to complete a job.

I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to raise my kids in agriculture; they are the sixth generation in our family to do so. I’m confident that as they grow older, they are going to make some really great ranch hands. I’m sure it won’t be long until they consider their parents as the “ranch hands,” and they take over as the bosses!

Through the month of July, BEEF and Durango have teamed up to celebrate the hard-working ranch hands who help us on our operations. We narrowed down 90+ entries to just 15 finalists and asked you to help us select our champions.

VIEW the gallery by clicking here.

We’ve had a great turnout of voters so far, and we really appreciate everyone taking the time to vote each day.

Due to a technical glitch in our app, we are extending the voting period until August 1, which gives you three more chances to vote for your favorite image.

VOTE for your favorite by clicking here.

The voting will officially close at noon on August 1, and we’ll announce our winners on August 2. Stop back on Thursday to see who took home the top prizes; plus, we have goodies to give away to three randomly selected voters.

Thanks again to everyone for making this another great contest!

The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or Farm Progress.