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Annual Farm Day Preparations Being Made at UWRF

By Trista Gropp
March 1, 2010-- Excitement is building for the spring day when buses filled with area elementary students make their annual visit to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Mann Valley Lab Farm 2 for Farm Day 2010. The event, set for Friday, April 16, is organized by the honorary agricultural fraternity Alpha Zeta, and is still accepting registrations.

Farm Day 2010 is aimed toward elementary students to learn about and experience agriculture first-hand through learning stations from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  While Alpha Zeta students are the main organizers of the event, many other UWRF organizations and students contribute and volunteer to make the day a success.

UWRF students serve as group leaders during the day to keep visiting students entertained and moving through each scheduled interactive learning station ranging from Ag Jeopardy to cattle roping. The Dairy Club plans to teach students about the dairy industry and what it takes to feed the cow that produces the milk they find in their milk cartons at lunch each day. Demonstrations from the Poultry Club will include bird handling and a technique called egg candling, where students can see a chick developing in an incubated egg. Even River Falls High School FFA students get involved by sponsoring a petting zoo.

“Farm Day educates kids on agriculture and how important it is,” says Alpha Zeta member and Farm Day Chair Brittany Teske. “Farm Day is an opportunity for these students to visit a farm.” Teske also comments that elementary students are usually very excited to see live animals and spend the school day doing some hands-on learning at the Lab Farm. It is rare that schools even allow animal visits to the classroom anymore, she said.

UWRF agricultural education professor and an adviser to Alpha Zeta, Tim Buttles adds, “Farm day helps our (UWRF) students communicate agriculture literacy with younger students.”

Elementary schools can register to attend Farm Day 2010 by emailing brittany.teske@uwrf.edu by Friday, March 26. Alpha Zeta also welcomes donations to help fund and sponsor the event. Interested sponsors may contact Teske or mail donations to Alpha Zeta, Department of Animal Science, 410 S. Third Street, River Falls, WI 54022.

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