CORTLAND — Going to the Jackson County Fair each summer, Karlee Brewer has been around pigs and cows.
She’s a member of Jackson County 4-H but hasn’t ever shown animals at the fair.
After being up close with pigs, cows, sheep, a rabbit, a dog and a goat during Seymour FFA’s Ag Day on Thursday at Cortland Elementary School, though, she may want to add an animal project to her list.
“I think I would be most interested in pigs because I love pigs, and even though people think they are dirty, they are not,” the Seymour-Redding Elementary School fifth-grader said. “They are actually kind of cute, and I wish I could have one at my house.”
Stations were set up around the Cortland gymnasium for Seymour fifth-graders to rotate through as FFA members educated them about animals.
“You get to learn about a lot of things that you wish you would have known sooner,” Brewer said. “I didn’t know there were millions of pigs until I came here today. I learned that the fair isn’t just about having fun. It’s about animals and about how they help this Earth in many ways that we couldn’t ever imagine.”
She said she appreciates the FFA members for taking the time to share their knowledge and experience.
“I would want to say thank you and I will forever remember this moment for many years to come,” Brewer said.
Ag Day was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down schools, and a virtual presentation was offered to teachers in 2021.
This year, Seymour FFA Adviser Jeanna Eppley and her members were happy to be back in person.
For most of the members, giving an in-person presentation at Ag Day was a new experience.
“With these types of events, it’s the education, the succession of education,” Eppley said. “These guys haven’t done it in two years. Some of them are sophomores and juniors and weren’t there. … We had to train them more intensively this year than we have had to in the past because they hadn’t done it, just how to keep a fifth-grader’s attention, what to say, how long you’re actually going to speak.”
As she walked around the gym and saw the FFA members interacting with the younger kids, Eppley was proud.
“They are getting great leadership and practice with patience,” she said.
Even an alum, 2021 graduate Kourtney Otte, returned because she didn’t get to do Ag Day in person in her last two years of high school. She’s serving as Indiana FFA president and found time in her schedule to participate.
Otte demonstrated how to turn soybeans into plastic by mixing corn starch, water and vegetable oil in a baggie and microwaving it for 40 seconds.
At another station, fifth-graders learned about germination by adding ice to a small baggie with a seed in it and watching it grow. Outside, they learned about tractors and being safe around them.
The rest of the stations featured farm animals.
Junior Kiley Sons brought one of her sheep, Leroy, to Ag Day. She began working with sheep about three years ago.
“Oh I just love them. They are so personable. They all have their own personalities. They are basically a little dog,” she said.
So how is Leroy?
“He’s perfect,” Sons said, smiling.
He was the perfect gentleman as kids gathered around his pen to pet him.
“I love it because a lot of kids, they don’t get to experience the farm life, so we’re able to bring it to them because they might not get the chance to go to the fair or go out in the country and see all of the animals,” Sons said. “Bringing them during the school day just is awesome.”
After sharing information, Sons fielded questions from the fifth-graders.
“There are a lot of things that people don’t really know or understand, so I just want to be able to answer their questions, tell them all I can about the animals so then they can go home and they would be like, ‘Oh Mom, guess what I learned today?’” she said.
Cody Garrard, a fifth-grader at Redding, said the field trip to see a variety of animals was fun. The cows were his favorite.
At home, he said he has had dogs, cats and hamsters, so being exposed to the farm animals was a special opportunity. Plus, he liked seeing a tractor up close.