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BALTIC, S.D. - A program that enables urban schoolchildren to adopt a farmer has proven a huge success for everyone involved. The Adopt A Farmer program was initiated in 2010 by Ag United for South Dakota, a nonprofit agricultural advocacy group.
"We were looking for something more to do in the classroom and saw similar programs that were being used in other states," said Kelly Nelson, Outreach Director at Ag United for South Dakota. "We took what we thought were the best parts of the other programs and adapted them for South Dakota."
Ag United's Adopt A Farmer program currently involves 19 schools and six producers including hog, cattle and crop farmers. A few years ago, dairy producers were added to the lineup of farmers who could be adopted.
Heidi Selken is one of the dairy farmers adopted through this program. For the past 12 years, Selken has been the herd manager at Boadwine Dairy, a 1,650 head family operation located about 15 miles from Sioux Falls.
"I felt that the Adopt A Farmer program would be a good way to give back to the community and the dairy industry," said Selken, who grew up on her parents' dairy farm near Colton, South Dakota. "I also think that we have to show people what farming is about in this era. I want to show the kids where their food comes from. Many of them didn't have the faintest idea. Most thought that milk comes from the supermarket."
This is the second year that Selken will be part of the Adopt A Farmer program. Last year she was adopted by the 4th graders at Rosa Parks Elementary and a class of 2nd graders at Lowell Elementary, both in Sioux Falls.
The process began with Ag United contacting Connor Hickman, an FFA member and a junior at Tri-Valley High School. Hickman was recruited to film Selken at Boadwine Dairy once a month as she explained various facets of the operation.
"It only takes about half an hour to shoot each month's video," said Selken. "Doing the videos is easy for me because I'm passionate about dairying. I try to make it interesting and keep things on a level that the kids can understand."
After Hickman edits the video, it is sent to Ag United who then uploads it to YouTube so it can be accessed by the students. The videos are also shared on Facebook and other social media.
After the students have watched the video, they make a video of themselves with questions for Selken. They can also pose questions in writing.
"This has been a learning experience for me as well as the students," said Selken. "These kids have no basis of knowledge regarding dairying. They ask such things as 'How old does a cow get?' and 'Why aren't the cows afraid of you or the tractor?' and 'How do you tell the boy calves from the girl calves?'"
After several months of this back and forth, Selken made a February visit to the classes of schoolchildren who had adopted her.
"I brought along some fresh feed samples so the kids could feel and see what our cows eat. They remarked that the silage smells bad, but I explained that the cows think it tastes good. One question that kept coming up from the second graders was, 'If chocolate milk doesn't come from a brown cow, then where does it come from?' I brought along a jug of milk and some chocolate milk powder and showed them how they could make their own chocolate milk."
A Power Point presentation helped Selken explain such things as how a barn's climate is managed on a modern dairy.
"Some of the kids wondered what the cows do when it's cold outside. I explained that the cows have their winter coats on all the time and that we close the side curtains to help them stay comfortable in the wintertime."
Selken will sometimes shoot video with her smart phone and send it to Hickman to be used along with the footage he has taken.
"One day the hay grinder came, so I took some video of hay being ground," she said. "I also shot some video in the summertime when the fans and the sprinklers were running to help illustrate how we keep our cows comfortable when the weather is hot."
The finale of the Adopt A Farmer program came in May, when the schoolchildren who had adopted Selken boarded busses and visited her at Boadwine Dairy.
"The most difficult part was that the kids all wanted to talk at the same time," she said. "For instance, they wanted to know why the cows have ear tags. I told them that it was to tell them apart and that with over 1,600 cows, I can't remember them all. They were awestruck by the milk tank, especially when I explained how the milk can get from the cow to their table in as little as two days."
But perhaps the most memorable part of the elementary students' visit was provided by Lynn Boadwine, whose family owns the dairy.
"Lynn let each of the kids stick a finger into a milking unit so they could see what it's like for the cows when they are being milked," said Selken. "The kids were totally fascinated!"
Selken has become somewhat of a star, both on YouTube and to her adoptive schoolchildren.
"One of our farmers told us that he was greeted like a rock star when he walked into his adoptive classroom," said Nelson.
Even though it might seem that she's given a lot of herself, Selken feels that she has probably received even more in return.
"This has been a very gratifying experience. It has helped raise my awareness of dairy farming's image in the wider world. It has also prompted me to become more involved in social media and start a Facebook page for Boadwine Dairy. Whenever I take dairy cattle to a show, a crowd will form when we milk our cows. I'm thinking we should make that a scheduled event that we could promote."
Selken feels that Adopt A Farmer has achieved its goals.
"We want to show folks that we care deeply for our cows and that we're not here to just make money. We want to show that dairy farming is more than a job, it's a way of life!"
You can view one of Selken's videos at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBg8usQ6E5M[[In-content Ad]]

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