SDSU Extension’s new Adopt-A-Cow program brings beef production to the classroom – Mitchell Republic

COLMAN, SD – South Dakota elementary school classrooms now have the opportunity to “adopt” a beef cow into the classroom.

The Adopt-A-Cow Beef program is a spin-off from South Dakota State University’s previous Adopt-A-Cow Dairy program, which now brings more attention to beef production into the classroom.

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“The most important thing for us in developing this program is that we really wanted students to be able to understand beef production. Children in even more rural communities are moving further away from direct agricultural connections,” said Madison Kovarna, beef nutrition specialist with SDSU Extension. “So we really wanted all walks of life and all kids to be able to connect somehow to an industry that is so important to South Dakota.”

Abby Lee is a third grade teacher at Colman-Egan School. She has been using the Adopt-A-Cow programs for several years. She started with the dairy program and then moved to the beef program last year.

“I had a group of kids who were really into farming, and I thought, ‘Let’s give it a try,’” Lee said.

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It’s something that has become a tradition in her classroom, and the students look forward to the course, Lee said.

“The kids love it. Every time Miss Madison comes, she is the one who comes to teach the children. It’s fun for them because they get someone else to teach them instead of me teaching them all day,” she said. “Every time she comes in (the students ask), ‘when is she coming back?’ So that’s always really nice to see how excited they are when she comes back and when they see it on our schedule for that day.

This new beef course consists of six classroom lessons. It covers a wide range of topics, including the history of beef production in South Dakota, genetics, calf health, herd management, the energy cycle, the life cycle of livestock, and possible careers in ranching.

“We’ve been able to kind of integrate that as part of our science and our scientific standards,” Lee said. “It’s just a new way for them to learn about science but also have fun doing it in real life, you know, like for real life situations.”

Each of the beef lessons is designed around third and fifth grade standards and aligns with the topics students learn about in their daily lessons.

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For example, Colman-Egen’s third-grade students had just learned about traits in science class and this month were able to learn how traits work in beef cattle through this new program.

“So when she said, ‘who knows what properties are?’ the kids knew right away, ‘Hey, we just learned about hereditary traits and how you get them from your mom and your dad,'” Lee said. “So it’s nice for them to say, ‘Hey, we know what she’s talking about.'”

The lessons are paired with videos from real beef farms in South Dakota so kids can see what the animal’s life cycle is like. Each lesson also has practical aspects.

“With some activities we really tried to make them really hands-on, if that was possible. Children automatically become our tactile learners who really need to make that hand and body connection to remember things,” Kovarna said.

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One of the most popular hands-on activities in the curriculum is a board game.

“The children get to take the place of a producer who owns a herd of cow calves and in it they learn whether they want to vaccinate their cows and possibly what risks it entails if they are not vaccinated in their herd,” Kovarna said. “So they can actually walk through that and make all these management decisions.”

They also created a set of household items that mimic the texture of the four compartments of the cow’s stomach.

“The kids can actually understand it when I tell them what those textures are,” Kovarna explained.

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In October’s lesson, students were allowed to play a dice game to determine the genetic characteristics of their livestock.

For many students, one of the things that surprised them during beef classes was how many different types of cows there are.

“Not all cows are the same,” said Olivia McGuire, a third-grader. “There are many different cows.”

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And for some third-graders, having this curriculum has helped them think about the future.

“If you’re older and you want to live on a farm, you know how to do it,” said third-grader Logan Urban.

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“I just think it’s really good for the kids to see that what we learn at school actually applies to real life. Since we are an agricultural community it is good for the children to know a little bit about what is happening. in the beef industry,” Lee said.

Mayvre Amdahl, a third grader, lives on a farm but has no livestock. She says she enjoys learning about cows and that it is important for children in her class who don’t live on farms to learn about agriculture.

“So many, when they get older, want to be farmers,” Mayvre said.

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SDSU Extension has downgraded their Adopt-A-Cow Dairy program to reach kindergarten to second grade standards, allowing both livestock programs to work well together to reach all levels of elementary students.

“All these lessons allow us to meet those K through 5,” Kovarna said.

Other states have access to similar programs through organizations such as Midwest Dairy and Discover Dairy.

So far, the SDSU Extension Adopt-A-Cow Beef program has seen positive responses, and Kovarna hopes it will continue to grow.

“We’re hoping that more and more schools can expand this and really use this curriculum and teach more kids in maybe more urban areas as well,” she said.

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SDSU Extension has created the beef cow curriculums for approximately 110 locations in South Dakota. These not only go to elementary classrooms, but are also delivered to 4-H offices. Schools can go to those county 4-H offices and borrow the curriculum if they are interested, or they can register on the SDSU Extension website to receive a link to download the curriculum.