The city kids spent a day down on the farm last week – the Lawton Public Schools farm, that is — learning where their food comes from, how to brand a cow and how to “churn” butter.
The event, which about 900 seventh graders from all three Lawton middle schools attended, was hosted by the Lawton FFA and is intended to pique interest in the district’s program. Students rotated through nine stations learning about vet medicine, seed germination, animal reproduction and meat evaluation, among others.
One new station this year was welding, where students actually got to strike an arc with a welder after donning a welding helmet and gloves.
“It was fun, but I couldn’t see,” said student Victoria Hileman. “It was not all that hard; all you had to do was push a button. I was concerned that I couldn’t see. How am I supposed to weld something if I can’t see? The only thing I could see was the sparks.”
It also was the first time Kairi Kelley had welded.
“It was cool, but I couldn’t really see,” she said.
Heaven Kern, Ag Education adviser at Life Ready Center, said welding was added to the rotation this year because of the new Ag Mechanics shop at LRC.
“A lot of kids have never seen that done and have never held a welder in their hands,” she said. “With the new shop opening, it’s another opportunity to have students in Ag Power classes.”
Kern said most of the students who attend Ag Days have never been around farm animals nor do they know where their meat or clothes come from. Most stations offered hands-on activities. Students were quick to get involved, including building a Christmas tree out of plastic cups.
Emily Ague, with Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom, taught students about Christmas trees, specifically Christmas tree farms in Oklahoma. She offered students some fun facts about raising Christmas trees: Oregon has the most tree farms, it takes 5-7 years to grow a 7-foot-tall Christmas tree, and Oklahoma has about 30 farms.
Then students were divided into groups of three and given a stack of plastic cups to build their own tree in a timed event.
Students also were introduced to some farm-type chores such as branding, applying ear tags and giving vaccinations. One chore was practicing how to steer a wheelbarrow, which was not as easy as it looked, according to Giovanni Portales, who was trying to catch his breath after pushing the wheelbarrow down the field, around a tree and back to the starting point.
“It was the first time I had done it, I think. If you go straight, it will turn by itself,” he said of the difficulty of steering it in a straight line.
Students also were introduced to a time-honored farm chore of “churning” their own butter. They started with heavy whipping cream in a small plastic cup they had to shake, and shake and shake until it turned to butter. The process takes 10-20 minutes, depending on how hard it is shaken. After the cream turned to butter, students were offered crackers with which to taste the fruits of the labor.
Nevaya Morrison decided to take the taste test.
“It tastes like nothing and I think that is what scares me most,” she said while making a face after taking a small bite. “When something tastes like nothing, it’s disgusting. It should have a flavor.”
Eli Coder, FFA secretary and MacArthur High School student, said the kids having fun is secondary to the main goal of Ag Days, which is offering students the opportunity to enroll in ag classes in eighth grade.
“Ag opens up people’s boxes,” he said. “There is more to ag than just animals.”
“Ag will help shape your future,” said Cadence Pierce, a ninth grader at Eisenhower High School. “The whole ag experience for me has opened up new doors. Ag has really changed my life in so many ways. I’ve learned a lot more common sense.”
The event is designed to show students the importance of ag, and the opportunities available to them through LPS courses.
“We hope to open their eyes to opportunities and get them involved in ag ed courses,” Kern said. “This is a recruitment tool to spark an interest.”