Ag in the Classroom



       Yesterday Paul and I went to our local private school and taught the elementary kids about agriculture. Living in a smaller town in SW MN we consider ourselves a rural community and assume that everyone should have been exposed to agriculture. It is eye opening to see how many of the children and teachers know very little about production agriculture.



         As you can see we had to use the chapel space but it worked out well and animals are part of Gods creation also. We focused our education on animal production in agriculture. We brought along our baby chicks, kittens, and a 3 day old calf from the farm. The kids were very attentive and asked lots of great questions. We were able to talk with about 150 kids and their teachers.

        Holding the baby chicks was a big hit. Many kids said it was the first time they have held a chicken. They were all amazed at how soft they were.We did talk with the kids about why they are different colors because of their different breeds. We also discussed the difference between egg production and meat production chickens.

      We brought a cute 3 day old brindle face heifer calf. She was very well mannered and let the kids pet her. I'm sure this is the closest many of them have every been to a calf. The kids were amazed to learn that in just 14 months a steer calf will grow to 1400lbs and be ready for market. We stressed with the kids that as farmers were are very concerned with our animals safety and health. We care about our animals but they are not our pets. The kids asked if they cows all had names and we told them how each one is given a number but only the very special cows get names.

 

       We also brought our 3 baby kittens and the kids passed them around.  We talked to the kids how the kittens are different from the chickens and calf because cats are pets and we have them for enjoyment but the chickens and calf we raise to produce food. We thanked the kids for helping use on our farm. We told them that their job is to eat food and we will continue to produce safe, nutritious food for them.

     Paul showed them Cow TV on his farm and how we use technology on the farm. The kids thought it was very neat that they could see the cows in the barn out on the farm.  It was a lot of fun to talk with the children and their teachers. Many of the kids and teachers thanked us for coming and said they learned a lot. Paul and I plan on doing this more often and encourage others to share their farm experience with others. The public is interested in learning about agriculture and what we do on our farms.

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