Saturday, March 31, 2007

Kids, kows and more

Students learn agricultural education at County Fairgrounds

Argen Duncan El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

Socorro County students visited with longhorn cattle, got the feel of wool products, checked out some farm equipment and more, all within a few hours on March 27 at the County Fairgrounds.

About 500 third- through fifth-graders from Socorro, Magdalena and Alamo schools participated in the county's first "Kids, Kows and More Expo," which taught them about agriculture from dairy cows to water to seeds.

"The main goal of today is agricultural education, so kids can find out where their food comes from, where their clothes come from," said county Cooperative Extension Agent Tom Dean. "Pretty much all their essentials in daily life come from agriculture."

The expo is a program of the Texas and New Mexico extension services and Southwest Dairy Farmers. In Socorro, the extension office organized the event, and Southwest Dairy Farmers served as a major sponsor.

Socorro and Magdalena FFA, Socorro County Farm and Livestock Bureau, Socorro County 4-H, the National Beef Council and the Socorro Soil and Water Conservation District also helped.

Dean hopes to make Kids, Kows and More an annual event.

Farm Bureau President Dan Kloss, also a local farmer, said his group participated "so kids won't think milk comes out of a box in the grocery store."

"It's just important to boys and girls to understand an awful lot of work went into getting food to their tables," Kloss said. "And (the effort) involved an awful lot of people."

Midway Elementary School fifth-grader Makayla Jacobs said she thought it was "pretty cool" that presenters put on the event.

"I knew most of the stuff, but I didn't know all of the stuff," she said.

Jacobs learned, for example, that people use just about every part of a cow.

With so much industry today, said Magdalena Elementary School third-grade teacher Shelly Rice, it's "cool" to learn about real-life things like agriculture.

"I've learned a lot," she said.

Magdalena third-grader Tristen James liked the expo. His favorite part was the equine presentation by Que Posse 4-H Riders, because he has spent time around horses.

Alamo Navajo Community Schools fifth-grade teacher Laura Guerro said the field trip was very educational, and the Alamo students were interested because they live in open spaces. Someday, Guerro said, one might run a big farm.

"We've been to three presentations already, and the kids are asking a lot of questions," she said.

Alamo residents don't have many of the things at Kids, Kows and More, such as big farm equipment, Guerro said. Reservation farmers use manpower.

Alamo third-grader Ilaria Baca said her favorite part was "talking about cows" because she learned about the subject. She also learned about hay-cutting equipment.

"This is a cool place," Baca said.

aduncan@dchieftain.com

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