Barn Tours: How We Do!

The first week of the Alameda County Fair was none other than successful for AGademics and Barn Tours! The many games, activities, and tours offered had a positive impact on the public and are continuing to engage the fairgoers in learning about agriculture.

In the Barnyard, the public is able to see a variety of livestock and their babies and learn basic facts about each species. The livestock include miniature donkeys, a cow and her calf, sows and their piglets, angora goats, dairy goats, and baby doll sheep. Children love having a hands-on experience with the animals, as well as the coloring activities and creating agriculture related bookmarks at the AGademics tent!

Our Barn Tours tent has also been very successful at engaging the public through our tours and tent activities. The Barn Tours guides have been very excited with the many tours we have given. The tours travel through all the livestock barns at the fair - the small animal barn, large livestock barn, and the Barnyard - where the public has the chance to learn about the livestock being exhibited at the fair. Today, our tours consisted of many enthusiastic young children and adults. Before the tour they had the chance to play the two games offered at the Barn Tours tent, Cornhole and Plinko, and win an AGademics hat. On the tour, they learned about the livestock being exhibited, including market sheep, rabbits, turkeys, chickens, dairy cattle, and even the Budweiser Clydesdale horses! The tour was filled with exciting games, interesting facts, and was altogether a great learning experience for the group.

Fair Time is Fun Time!

        AGademics has been super excited to start our run at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, California! The fair is about three weeks long, starting June 22 to July 10th! We currently have two tents set up in the livestock area, the AGademics tent in the Barnyard as well as our Barn Tours tent located by the small animals barn!
        This year we are happy to welcome two new Barn Tour guides/AGademics employees - Christina Cefalu and Megan McNulty! Christina is currently attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo studying Agriculture Education and Megan is attending University of Idaho studying Animal Science. We also have two returning Barn Tour guides- Chase DeCoite attending UC Davis and Frances Negranza studying at Modesto Junior College!
        Cooperatively our employees run both activity tents throughout the day. At the Barnyard we have activities including coloring pages, a scavenger hunt, the question of the day, aggie post cards and the occasional guest speaker Jessica Sweet the new National Beef Ambassador from Livermore, California.
        At our Barn Tours tent our guides leave at the top of every hour to give FREE barn tours to the public - Taking tours through the small animal barn, the large animal barn and the barnyard. Our goal is to educate the public about animal agriculture through fun facts about each species and bridging the gap between agricultural producers and consumers. Also at our Barn Tours Tent we engage the public in fun activities such as Plinko and Corn Hole. Participants answer questions and have the opportunity to win fun prizes!  All of our employees are passionate about agriculture awareness and representing AGademics at the Alameda County Fair!

I WAS A BARN TOUR GUIDE!

This summer we are going to have those working for us to be guest bloggers and record their experience. We have so many of our own experience and memories of wearing the red shirt I thought I would allow the public into the behind the scenes of what we expereince as a tour guide. If anyone else is interested in blogging their experince as a tour guide please email us and let us know.
 Now those who used to sport the red shirts we do have a Facebook group so you can find fellow BTG. Look us up, we would love to connect those with the new tour guides and share the memories and stories of our adventures on the road and in the barns! The group is called "I was a Barn Tour Guide" We look forward to reconnecting with our fellow red shirt fans!

June is Dairy Month!!!

I'm so excited for this month, you would think it was Christmas! I love Dairy products there isn't a cheese, an ice cream or milk I haven't tried that I don't love. I have to thank the countless hours the Dairy Farmer puts into the yummy products and the cows that work so hard to get us that great glass of milk. It has been trying times for lots of Dairy farmers especially here in the NUMBER 1 Dairy state (CALIFORNIA) but those who carry on the dedication I thank you.
Below are some of my favorite fun facts about dairy products and cows. Hope you get a kick out of them.

DAIRY FUN FACTS

350 SQUIRTS ARE IN A GALLON OF MILK

AVG COW MAKES 100 GLASSES OF MILK A DAY

ALL 50 STATES HAVE DAIRY FARMS IN THEM

CHEDDAR CHEESE IS THE MOST POPULAR CHEESE IN U.S.A.

12 POUNDS OF WHOLE MILK= 1 GALLON OF ICE CREAM

21 POUNDS OF WHOLE MILK = 1 POUND OF BUTTER

DAIRY COWS DRINK AN AVG OF A BATHTUB OF WATER A DAY