Soo Line: Classrooms at Cattle Congress are a Moo-ving Discovery

By Soo Greiman

There have been times when I’ve had to stop and admire how and where school kids receive lessons. Earlier last week in downtown Waterloo, I looked on as hundreds of fourth-grade students were wholeheartedly inspired by the Mayor’s Fun Run. Through carefully blocked-off streets, some ran at full speed, hoping to win. I noticed groups of girls trotting along, holding hands and happily giggling. Even the tail-end walkers enjoyed participating in the fitness effort.

But it was the sights and comments made by hundreds of 7- and 8-year-olds as they walked through livestock barns on the Cattle Congress grounds in late September during the annual show that, to me, illustrate education of the finest kind: agriculture education.

Though all are Iowa kids, few come from farms or have much knowledge about agriculture or where their food comes from. But now in its 37th year, Cattle Congress’ Discovery program offers second- and third-graders up-close looks at livestock in barns and hands-on learning to build knowledge and awareness about agriculture.

This year, Discovery brought 1,004 students bouncing into the fairgrounds aboard school buses from a four-county area. These kids weren’t there to eat funnel cakes or have adventures on midway rides. They were there to discover all they could about agriculture.

With a number of volunteers serving as tour guides, students were told about beef cattle, horses, sheep, chickens, draft horses, rabbits and goats in the Hall of Breeds before moving to the next barn, where they visited with dairy farmers who talked about their milk cows. In another building, the youngsters saw and learned about hogs. Graciously assisting as animal caretakers were Hawkeye Community College students, who often fielded lots of questions.

I don’t know anywhere else in Iowa where, during the school year, classrooms of kids are able to visit animal barns like these to hear how animals are raised, what they produce and how we use what they produce.

Many of the unfiltered comments from kids reflect why ag education is important at this age. Examples overheard include:

“Teacher, look at that. Somebody put an egg in the box with that chicken! Will the chicken eat it?”

The teacher replies, “No, the chicken just laid that egg. It’s fresh!”

A sheep baaaaas.

“Teacher, what’s wrong with it?” a student wonders.

The teacher replies, “That’s the sound a sheep makes.”

Invariably, upon entering a barn, a student asks, “What stinks?” Or when a cow demonstrates natural elimination, a youthful chorus cries out, “Ewwwwwww!”

I liked the honest response a Hawkeye student gave immediately after a cow let loose.

“Hey,” he said, “these are living animals. They eat and drink like we do and have to get rid of the waste created. We’re caretakers, so we clean their stalls every day. All farmers work hard taking care of their animals and livestock.”

As one dairy farmer who had just talked with a group of kids walked away, he looked at the adults still standing around his cows and said, “I enjoy teaching curious kids. We are so separated from farming nowadays. I like to talk to them so they can see where food comes from, and it’s not just from the grocery store.”

Thanks to Black Hawk Extension, which organized Discovery; volunteers who led the students; Hawkeye Community College students who cared for the animals; and the many people who brought them, their contributions made for loads of farm-fresh learning.

Cattle Congress’ Discovery is an inspiring classroom doing a fantastic job of imparting lessons that stay with kids long after the bus ride home.