Students sample life on a ranch
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Polson fourth graders piled off the school bus at Mac and Pat Binger’s ranch in Irvine Flats last Thursday to learn about agriculture-related topics from local experts. There to greet them was a ranch dog who liked to chase sticks and thoughtfully brought one along for students to throw.
Montana State University extension agent Jack Stivers divided the kids into groups for the annual agriculture education days sponsored by the Bingers and the Lake County Conservation District. The objective is to give students some insight into agriculture, the nuts and bolts of raising cows, horses, sheep and other animals, as well as conservation, weed control and how rural families care for their land and animals.
Groups of kids, teachers and parents spent about 15 minutes at each station in the indoor arena and outdoors.
Outside in one of the big corrals Katy Swope and Teagan and Garrett Indreland talked to students about rodeo events. Smokey, an Appaloosa gelding belonging to Swope’s family, was a visual aid.
“Horses are a lot like people, like you,” Swope said. “They grow and learn.”
Kids asked questions about how fast Smokey could run, barrel racing and roping and even branding.
Though branding seems cruel, Swope, who grew up on a cattle ranch, explained that it’s necessary for ranchers to tell their cows apart.
After petting Smokey’s velvety nose, students headed over for a hay wagon ride.
Pulled by a 70-year-old Allis Chalmers tractor, the wagon had bales of hay for seats. John Dark drove the tractor, and Sigurd Jensen talked about tractors, how they’re used on ranches and answered general questions about cows, horse and agriculture.
Corrals to the left of the big barnyard held a couple of longhorn cows and their long-lashed babies while a surly-looking longhorn bull in another pen yearned to be away from people.
Also on display was a new colt, sorrel with four white feet. The colt was an embryo transplant. His sire and dam were purebred Arabians, and their fertilized egg was transplanted into a paint mare that carried the dished-face baby to term. An Arabian characteristic is a dished face.
Inside the barn Mark Vrooman and his paint horse Brother educated students on horse language and how to act around horses. Next to Vrooman Christina Schwend talked about noxious weed identification and control.
From sheep to sweater, Susan Gardener brought all stages of wool production from a ewe and her three lambs, baskets of raw wool, yarn and finished woolen garments and felted wool flowers. Kids partnered up and used a hunk of wood, a hook and teamwork to form a strand of yarn.
Jane Clapp and Joyce Norman used posters to illustrate how horses communicate. Students from each class submitted a name for one of Carl Moss’s colts. The winning name was Cisco, and students from Linderman School in Polson can expect “a really disgusting prize” to be delivered to their classroom.
Northwest Farm Bureau president Craig Blevins spoke with kids about ranching and farming and how ag families care for their animals.
The dairy industry had a couple of representatives talking about dairy cows, the always-popular milking machines and what goes on at a dairy farm.
Always a hit with kids, the conservation trailer is filled with sand and features a miniature ranch set up with tiny plastic animals, machinery, buildings, and even hay bales, complete with a real stream of water running through it. The trailer’s purpose is to educate students about water and how external factors affect a stream.
Zoe Lilja and John Campbell explained the trailer and talked with students about real life situations, such as where to dump trash, how to limit the impact domestic animals have on stream banks, what would happen if hay bales roll into the stream, and where to position an outhouse.
Soon the smell of grilling burgers signaled lunch. The students lined up for hamburgers supplied by the Beef Council and cooked by Beth Blevins, chips and apples provided by the Polson and Ronan Chambers of Commerce, and milk and ice cream bars from the Lake County Conservation District.
After lunch on a green pasture and a quick game of tag, kids finished the rounds before heading back to school knowing a little bit more about the rural life.
Chris Mahlgren and her crew began preparations for the following day’s presentations with Ronan and Mission Valley Christian Academy students.
