Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 15, 1990 TAG: 9005160727
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: AUDREY OSBORNE SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
Their visit to Hickory Hills Farm in Ellett Valley had been long-anticipated and there was a debate on whether to make the trip because of ominous clouds.
But hard rain held off, and 31 third-graders piled into the yellow bus, driven by Principal Gary McCoy, to spend the day with sheep, horses, cattle and machinery and to take in the sights, sounds and smells with curious faces.
The trip was part of a business-public school partnership, McCoy said.
"It's different learning from a textbook and from an experience where you can actually get your hands on," he said. "The kids loved touching the animals to see what they felt like and had a lot of fun."
And learn is exactly what they did - everything from parts of a horse to how the various farm machines are used.
On their way to see the inside of a barn, they trotted through a herd of cows that politely mooed and parted.
`Yuck, manure!" some kids groaned as they made their way through the herd.
Bill Beal, an animal science professor at Tech, accompanied the pupils and explained that manure is mixed with water and spread on fields to help grow crops.
Teddy, a mixed border collie, was waiting outside the barn and wagged his tail in greeting. Teddy has only three legs because he was hit by a car and had his left hind leg amputated. He still makes his way around the farm, rounding up the cattle every morning.
Inside the barn, the children got to hold three tiny lambs and feed them powdered milk from bottles.
"They feel like cotton," Angela White said, as one nibbled on her finger.
All the children alternated holding and feeding the lambs while Dave Linker, manager of the farm, explained reproduction of sheep.
"The female sheep, called ewes, are kept separate from the male sheep, called rams, almost all year long," he said.
They breed in March and five months later the lambs are born.
"Then we take them all into the barn to bond in separate lambing jugs," Linker said.
Katherine Meadows, a farm helper, said, "The lambing jugs are basically like maternity wards for people. It takes several hours for the mother to realize the lambs are hers and that she needs to be responsible for them." Meadows just graduated from Tech with a degree in animal science and encourages kids to be active in 4-H livestock programs, of which she was a member.
"I grew up on a farm in Botetourt [County] and think farming is a neat life. But a lot of kids are getting away from it," she said.
"If you ask them where hamburger comes from, they say, `The grocery store.' They have no background knowledge of a farm. This trip gives them a chance to learn by doing," she said.
The children then made their way outside to visit Betsy, a 23-year-old light brown mare trained at the farm.
"I wish we had the kids trained this well," Pat Cross, their teacher, said as they watched Betsy walk and gallop at Beal's command.
Before the class arrived, Beal had used construction paper to make name cards for each part of the horse's body. Then he stuck them to Betsy as the kids identified each body part.
Betsy put up with this until Beal stuck paper on her hock, or hind leg, and then she tried to kick off the paper.
Beal also had picked up a third-grade arithmetic book at Harding Elementary to incorporate math into the horse lesson. Horses are measured by hands, so he made some from construction paper to measure Betsy. She was 15 hands high.
Betsy then endured getting her nails clipped. Beal brought out clippers the size of a monkey wrench to trim her hoofs, which grow like toenails.
"You can't use fingernail clippers because her foot's too big," Beal said. He explained that she needed frequent clipping and that it did not hurt the horse.
Beal clipped half of a nail and said he would clip the other half when first-graders came later that Thursday afternoon.
"Well, how will she be able to walk then? Won't she be lopsided?" Jason Howard asked. Beal said it's just like clipping a human nail, and that it wouldn't bother her.
The rain started to fall, but that didn't end the visit. Everyone just moved into another barn.
Although the children had studied farm life from books before making the trip, they were eager to learn more. In the barn, they asked questions about Betsy.
"How much does she weigh? How much does she eat in a year?"
Beal answered all the questions, and introduced them to farm machinery. A tractor, a haybine and round bale of hay were near Betsy.
"These work like a big lawn mower," Linker said. Linker and Beal threw hay into the haybine blades to show what it was like to cut hay. And all the children tried to push over a round bale of hay the size of a cow. The bale was so big, Linker said, because the cattle have to eat from it for a week.
At the visit's end, the kids received ear tags with their names on them. The tags are used to identify cattle.
Jennifer Price and Sara Prupas used theirs as earrings and admired each other. "Don't shake my head!" Jennifer told Sara.
"I want to be a farmer," Alison Smith said as the kids left the farm. She joined her classmates, Beal and Linker to go back to school for lunch. It would be their chance to show Beal and Linker how they spend their day.
by CNB