Agriculture is a part of everything

Encampment preschool, kindergarten, and upper-grade students had the opportunity to experience what it is like to work on a ranch with the sounds of goats, cows, and cattle dogs and the sight of tractors and bailers.

Encampment K-12 hosted its inaugural agriculture day on Wednesday, May 8. This event received support from students of local ranchers, businesses, and Encampment FFA. Students and the community took the time to see how ranchers work their day-to-day operations.

Justin Stern, Water Resource Specialist/Education Coordinator for the Saratoga Encampment Rawlins Conservation District (SER), said in the last five years this event had occurred in Saratoga. He said this was a great change of pace to allow Encampment to experience the great benefits of Agriculture Day so local youth can learn how important the agriculture industry is to the economy.

“This has been a great experience celebrating the first Agriculture Day at Encampment K-12,” Stern said. “We have a lot of live animals that young kids can see from goats, dogs, horses and calves. The kids can get hands-on live experience on what agriculture looks like.”

Stern said he wants kids to be educated on how agriculture is a top priority in the economic chain. He said it is part of everyday life and families and communities depend on it for survival and making a living.

“Agriculture is part of everything and everyday life,” Stern said. “Each of them can be part of agriculture and they don’t need a big ranch to be a part of this process. They can learn how to grow fruits and vegetables in their backyard and simply be a part of agriculture.”

Cattle dogs also have an important duty to protect livestock and move cattle into trailers. Rancher Clyde Johnson has worked with Border Collies for 30 years.

“I started a long time ago and a friend of mine got me interested in Border Collies,” Johnson said. “My dad also raised cattle dogs when I was a kid. I ran about 300 yearlings with 10 dogs working for me as my crew.”

Johnson said his Border Collies are always ready to work and must stay active.

“My dogs help me when I load my trucks and move cattle from pasture to pasture,” Johnson said. “I take them on a side-by-side vehicle and they do all the work for me. They also make great companions.

Johnson said he is known as the Dog Guy and has attended many Agriculture Day events and loves to share his knowledge with kids.

“From Wyoming to Arizona and everywhere I go, I have been involved in many agriculture programs. I have done a lot of agriculture programs in Rawlins and Saratoga for many years. Encampment has such great people and it’s the inaugural agriculture day in this town. It is a lot of fun to teach these kids about agriculture and many of these kids are tied to it because they either have family in the agriculture industry or students who take part in agriculture classes.”

Johnson said the hard part of raising cattle dogs is keeping them active. He said that Border Collies, in particular, are high-strung dogs and must stay busy.

“The most important part in raising Border Collies is keeping them active,” Johnson said. These types of dogs are high-strung and require them to stay busy. Border Collies get bored quickly and get into bad habits.”

The young kids also had the chance to examine farming equipment used in agriculture. The preschool and kindergarten students took the opportunity to climb aboard the bailer

Dustin Buffington, an employee for Bartlett Custom Haying said it is great to teach kids why agriculture is important.

“It is good for kids to learn about agriculture and everything that goes into it,” Buffington said. “It is important to get the next generation going because without agriculture we have nothing.”

Buffington’s company had provided a VR5 bailer for the kids to look at and to get pictures of them sitting on the bailer.

“The VR5 is the latest technology in bailing hay,” Buffington said. “Kids get to see how it works and what it is used for.”

Nigerian Dwarf goats were one of many farm animals kids had the chance to experience. Valerie Remick has raised goats for 15 years. She also owns a ranch in Encampment and raises quarter horses and cattle.

“I raise Nigerian Dwarf Goats and Boer goats, which are meat goats, and kids use them to show off at the FFA and 4-H club,” Remick said. “We promote keeping these goats healthy”.

According to the American Boer Goats Association (ABGA), the Boer goat was developed by Dutch farmers in South Africa in the early 1900s. They were brought to the United States in 1993. ABGA was founded in the same year. This unique breed is popular for its amazing meat production

Renick said it is important that goats get vaccines. She said it helps to reduce the chances of anyone getting sick including other animals.

“The first important rule people need to know is goats need to get their vaccines,” Remick said. ‘All the food goats eat must be fresh with clean water. It doesn’t take a ton of work to raise goats, but the responsibility is there. They grow fast and if they are not developing right, you must stay on top.”

Remick said she always looks forward to Agriculture Day because it keeps kids involved in an important process in the farming and ranching industry. Young baby calves are another important livestock animal kids and the community learned about.

Lindsey Wamsley, who grew up on a ranch with bum caves and currently works at One Bar Eleven Ranch near County Road 203, said there is heavy responsibility with raising calves.

“What we are doing today is teaching these kids about ranch life and why we do the things we do on a ranch,” Wamsely said. “Sometimes people don’t know you have to hand raise these calves because they do not have mothers. So we wanted to bring awareness to the things we do.”

Wamsley said health issues are something people deal with when raising calves. She said addressing calves’ health issues is something people must know when raising them.

“There is a lot of illness we have to deal with, especially with the weather we have in Encampment, “ Wamsely said. “The tough part is the loss you inevitably experience with cattle but for the most part it’s usually pretty rewarding”.

Wamesley said she loves how the kids have a deep interest and are never afraid to ask questions.

“It has been such a great experience,” Wamesley said. “The kids are enthusiastic, they listen and take in all the information they can get. It is a great thing to see”.

One of the other fun events which took place at Encampment Agriculture Day was the Redneck Olympics. Encampment students did events such as gunny sack races and tire racing. Encampment senior Ryon Miller, who took part in the Redneck Olympics, said it was a great day for young students to learn about agriculture.

“It is such a cool experience to get the young kids out and learn about agriculture,” Miller said. “We are doing this event for our 4-H club and our 4-H President so we decided to do this for our elementary students.”

Miller said it was great for Encampment K-12 to finally have their own Agriculture Day on their campus because schools such as Saratoga and Rawlins had their events and he felt Encampment had been left out.

“This is important to me because I wanted to get the Encampment Elementary students exposed to agriculture, especially the kids who don’t know about it,” Miller said. “It helps them get a taste of it and to know more about the community they live in.”

Miller said teaching youth about agriculture is important because it’s the next generation. He said having Encampment’s inaugural agriculture day is a step in the right direction.

“We, as students, are grateful to live in a community that is surrounded by agriculture,” Miller said. “This is why having agriculture day in Encampment is a good way for kids to be educated on this process because agriculture runs our American economy.”