On May 10 the Hillsboro FFA Chapter had its annual Food for America Day for kindergarten students. The host was Starlight Dairy and Grain, owned and operated by the Shawhan family who donated its time to make the event a success. The FFA members had 11 stations which the kindergarteners visited for roughly 20 minutes each. They included a hay ride, feed mixing, baby calves and milking, a petting zoo, a tour of the old milking parlor, a tour of the new milking parlor, flower planting, a scavenger hunt, field games, farm machinery and how to make ice cream. The idea behind each of these stations was to educate the kids on farm-related activities, but this year there was the chance to be on a dairy farm so the FFA took advantage of that. One piece of technology that they got to learn about was the milking robot at the new milking station. The machine can track the gallons of milk produced, which cow produced it, the number of times the cow attempts to come through, and more detailed statistics. This year the kindergarten teachers loved how interactive all of the stations were and so many kids had a great time. The experiences from this event will help them know if they are interested in FFA when they are able to join.
Submitted photo
On May 10 the Hillsboro FFA Chapter had its annual Food for America Day for kindergarten students. The host was Starlight Dairy and Grain, owned and operated by the Shawhan family who donated its time to make the event a success. The FFA members had 11 stations which the kindergarteners visited for roughly 20 minutes each. They included a hay ride, feed mixing, baby calves and milking, a petting zoo, a tour of the old milking parlor, a tour of the new milking parlor, flower planting, a scavenger hunt, field games, farm machinery and how to make ice cream. The idea behind each of these stations was to educate the kids on farm-related activities, but this year there was the chance to be on a dairy farm so the FFA took advantage of that. One piece of technology that they got to learn about was the milking robot at the new milking station. The machine can track the gallons of milk produced, which cow produced it, the number of times the cow attempts to come through, and more detailed statistics. This year the kindergarten teachers loved how interactive all of the stations were and so many kids had a great time. The experiences from this event will help them know if they are interested in FFA when they are able to join.
