LSU AgCenter dairy science professor Cathy Williams shows the stomach contents of Willie, the fistulated steer, to students from Martin Luther King Christian Academy in Baton Rouge during Farm Day at the LSU AgCenter campus dairy on April 28. Photo by Johnny Morgan

Morgan Richard, a dairy science major at LSU, shows a young goat to students during Farm Day at the LSU AgCenter campus dairy on April 28. Photo by Johnny Morgan

News Release Distributed 05/01/15

BATON ROUGE, La. – Getting close to farm animals and learning where food comes from provide learning with a twist at Farm Day at the LSU AgCenter campus dairy on April 28.

Each year students, who are mainly in pre-K to second grade from East Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes, take the field trip to see animals and learn about agriculture.

At Farm Day the students see traditional farm animals, along with a few exotic animals, too. This year they saw cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, a horse and sheep. Past years have included pot belly pigs, a kangaroo, a python, a hedgehog and an African tortoise.

The field day has been held on the LSU campus each spring for more than 30 years, said LSU AgCenter dairy science professor Bruce Jenny.

“Our dairy science students pretty much control the event,” Jenny said. “It’s normally a two-day event, but the storms caused us to have to cancel the first day this year.”

The dairy students sent invitations to the schools earlier in the year, giving them an idea of how many students to prepare for, said Holly LeBeau, student farm day volunteer coordinator.

“Most of the students that come here haven’t been exposed to any type of animals other than a dog or a cat,” she said. “We’re just basically giving the knowledge and educating them on different farm animals.”

As in former years, most of the students are most fascinated by Willie, the fistulated steer that has an intentional hole in its side that allows for digestive research, said Cathy Williams, LSU AgCenter dairy science professor.

“At each of the stops, the students learn something about the animals there,” Williams said. “These younger students come here because they are not quite advanced enough to really understand what’s happening at AgMagic,” an AgCenter event held each spring.

Kayla Carter, mother of a first-grade student at LaSalle Elementary in Baton Rouge, said her son had never seen some of the animals up close.

“It’s not only an education for him,” Carter said. “It’s an education for me also because I’ve never been close to farm animals either.”

Deloris Newman, a teacher at Martin Luther King Christian Academy in Baton Rouge, said this field day enhances what the students are learning in class.

“We’ve already begun the farm unit in class, so now we can incorporate this into their lesson,” Newman said.

The students have completed a unit on baby chicks, so they already know how long it takes for them to hatch, Newman said.

“With that lesson, the teacher asked them if it takes 21 days, then how many weeks? So there is a math lesson involved as well,” Newman said.

Farm Day is the main fundraiser for the LSU dairy science club. They sell ice cream at the event, and the proceeds help pay for dairy students to travel to their national conference and help with the expenses of Farm Day.

Johnny Morgan