STUDENTS SPEND DAY ON FARM

JACKSON -- What do steel ball bearings, foam and lighter fluid have in common? Each item is created from cattle, soybean or corn by-products.

Whatever they didn't know about farming before Friday, third grade students at Jackson elementary schools learned during Farm Day at Flickerwood Arena.

To teach children more about farm life and farm-related products, the SEMO Cattlemen's Association and University of Missouri Extension 4-H program created Farm Day. It is the first event of its kind organized by the groups.

"We decided that since most children are three-generations removed from a farm, they don't know where the products come from," said Donna Fields, event organizer.

Now the students can pinpoint cuts of meat and breeds of cattle, even though some girls quickly decided to become vegetarians after seeing a petting zoo of chicks, piglets and calves.

Before the day was complete, the students tested chocolate-covered corn kernels, beef jerky and cheese. Each product was produced at an area farm.

"I think it's fun to learn about the animals," Megan said. "I'd like to live on a dairy farm."

But farm life isn't easy, warned Mildred Kirchdoerfer, who along with her husband, owns a dairy farm outside Cape Girardeau.

"You have to milk the cattle every day," she said. "You can't leave your farm very long."

But hard work wouldn't bother Steffan, he said. "I think it would be neat to feel like you were producing a product that other people need a lot."

Students visited exhibits on soybeans, corn, pork, beef and dairy products.