NEW NAME!?!

New name? Is probably what most people are thinking. And the very next question is why. Well that is a very good question. I am changing the name of the company not the programs. The name of the company now represents what we are about and what we strive to bring to the general public. We will still be providing the same high quality and standards that we strive to bring to our clients and audience.

 The official name of the company is: AGademics.  We are an agriculture education company and I believe our name now reflects that. Of course Barn Tours is not going anywhere! The Barn Tours program is here to stay. Now all our programs: Farm Planet (educational material), Barn Tours (fair tours), Agademics (school presentations) and consulting are all represented by one name AGademics.  We will be updating our websites, social media,  and logos after the first of the year to represent all our changes. I hope that everyone understands the change and looks forward to it as much as we do.

Great Media Interview Tips from the Farm Bureau

Theses are some great tips for any type of interview.

TOP TEN TIPS:

1. Deterime your audience goal in advance

2. Practice what you plan to say and how to say it

3. Focus on and repeat your key message

4. Think and speak in headlines

5. Keep your answers brief

6. Say what you want to say then stop

7. Avoid industry jargon and acronyms

8. Remember who your audience is

9. Never go off record

10. Be respectful of reporters and meet their deadlines

NYS Lamb & Wool Festival

This year we went to the New York State Lamb & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY. We had so much fun and meet so many people that have enjoyed Barn Tours through out the years. We set up a interactive educational display all about agriculture and the animals revolving around wool production.  We had so many kids enjoy the game 'Plinko' they tested their knowledge of agriculture and the animals displayed in the banners. The kids walked away with T-shirts, hats, pencils,  key chains an of course learning one thing new agriculture.

We loved being in up state New York and watching the fall colors change. The festival brought out so many different vendors of wool and wool products. I have never seen so many different shades of yarn. And the amount of people that braved the cold the first day for the festival  was staggering. The breed display showed many breeds of sheep I wasn't familiar with and it was nice to see as well as be educated by. With over 900 breeds of sheep is hard to be familiar with them all. For more pictures from our experience at the 2010 Lamb & Wool Festival check out our Facebook page.

OCTOBER IS NATIONAL PORK MONTH!!!

OCTOBER IS NATIONAL PORK MONTH!!!

Here is some fun facts about swine in honor of it being national pork month. 

* A group can be called a herd or sounder

* A pig can run a mile in 7 minutes

* They are considered to be 4th in line for intelligence.

* You can find swine on every continent but Antartica

*You can find more fun facts about bacon online than pork or pigs.

*Pigs have 4 toes on each foot but only walk on 2

* An average size litter is 8-11 piglets.

* Even the squeal is used on a pig, next time you watch Jurassic park they used pig squeals to make up some dinosaur sounds.

* They have over 15,000 taste buds more than any other mammal, including humans.

* Mud is a natural cooling agent and bug repellent for pigs.

* Swine can not sweat

And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the fun facts about swine. Feel free to add some more. We love fun facts about agriculture

NEW THINGS COMING !!

Barn Tours has been around for about 20 years and I have owned it the last 4.5 years.  I love my job and the people I get to meet because of my job. In the last 4.5 years Barn Tours has started to branch out to try new things and create new programs for the business.  I have tried to revamp the company so that it follows my goals and ideas on where I think Barn Tours should be going. So I have been very busy racking my brain along with others to figure out how to just do that while still keeping with the original ideas of why Barn Tours was founded.

I'm not quite ready to let the cat out of the bag and tell what is exactly going on. But know it is big and exciting and its killing me that I can not share it with you yet. Those who know Barn Tours and have worked with us I hope you welcome and love the new changes we are gonna make and those who have yet to experience us I hope they love what we are doing and want to jump on the band wagon. So stay tuned and look out for the 'New & Improved" version of Barn Tours to debuting soon.

September is Chicken month!!!

Since September is Chicken month I thought I would share some of my favorite chicken fun facts!!! Please feel free to add your favorite chicken fun facts!!!

*Americans eat 8 billion chcickens a year

* most yolks found in a egg was 9

* longest flight recorded of a chicken is 301.5 feet

*Chickens are omnivores

* There are more chickens on earth than humans

* Chickens can run up to 9 miles per hour

* Red earlobed chickens lay brown eggs, White earlobed chickens lay white eggs

* An egg as over 8,000 pores on it

* It takes an average 24-26 hours for a hen to lay an egg

Cow Palace's Ag Day

We are so excited to be apart of the Grand Nationals at Cow Palace this October. On Thursday October 21 we will be apart of their Ag Day for schools. We are super excited about it. After the great experience in the spring with Junior Grand Nationals we can't wait for the response to the fall Ag day.

Thanks to Ag in the Classroom, publishing a nice little blurb about Grand Nationals and our involvement. We were so excited to see it, cause we had no idea that it was coming out in the newletter. Below is the is link to the newsletter. And if you haven't signed up to recieve it yet you should, its a great newsletter from a great organization. http://www.learnaboutag.org/

New Interactive games!!!

Well its offical we added more to our Barn Tours line up. We now have interactive games which can be played between tour times. The games challenge your knowledge of agriculture and allows you to earn really cool prizes from the Tour Guide. We have Corn Hole and Plinko. The games were a big hit this summer at the Alameda County Fair. We had people of all ages coming to play the games and earn a prize or two.

We decided to add more to Barn Tours because we are ever changing but also because we want to be more interactive with the public and get the fun information on agriculture out there. We love interacting with the public and passing our love for agriculture on.

For more information check out our website at www.barntours.net

Barn Tours on "The View of the Bay"

Thanks to Alameda County Fair once again we were on "The View of the Bay" with April the marketing director. Our adventure began way before the camera rolled that's for sure. It all started backstage rehearsals. And its a good thing April has experience with babies and me with livestock. We had a piglet who liked to poop on us as well as a goat kid who had a nervous stomach. But once we got all the animals to cooperate we had a fabulous time on air. But note to self eat lunch before we go. No time to eat while at the TV station and no where to stop to eat afterwards. Traffic was horrible but I think we made people's day has we drove by and I was holding a piglet in the front seat. Thanks again to the Alameda County Fair and April for letting me be apart of the show and the experience!

Here is the link to the segment:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/channel?section=view_from_the_bay&id=5755208

Farm Planet banner discount

Now offering a 10% discount on our Farm Planet Banners as long as you mention the keyword (FINK). Discount is good on rentals or purchase. Act soon Discount only lasts until May 15th.


Visit our Farm Planet website at www.farmplanet.org and check out all nine banners!

They make great additions to the livestock barns and educational areas.

Chowchilla Madera County fair is just around the bend.

Its that time again and we are hitting the road. We are making the long haul to Chowchilla to enjoy the Chowchilla-Madera County fair. The fair starts May 13 and runs until the 16th. It is a new fair for us and we couldn't be more excited! The fair is pretty close to us as well. It is less than 2 hours from our house which is nice. I can't wait to meet the fair goers and staff. And of course walk the barns and teach people one thing new about agriculture.
We will of course be posting twitters and facebook posting for our adventures so don't forget to keep a look out for those.

Farm Planet is running.

Well I did it. I got my website up for Barn Tours' Farm Planet collection of educational material. I think it looks good for me doing it myself. I like how I am in charge of what is put on it and I can change the content at any time. So far it has been met with great reviews. Please check it out. The website is www.farmplanet.org. The website will be changing at all different times as we add and change material.

End of an Era!

Well a with heavy heart I say that Barn Tours will not be at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair. It seems the fair thinks our numbers have been decreasing. I would like to thank the fair for our longest run at a fair to date. We have enjoyed working with your staff, educating the public and enjoying the fine food at the fair. Minnesota State Fair was the first fair I worked at with Barn Tours over ten years ago. It has been my favorite one ever since.
I hope to work with the fair in the future. And to all of our Barn Tours' fans please express your love for us to the fair and your fond memories. We also would love to hear your favorite Minnesota State fair memories as well.

Farm Kid from the City

Well the USA Today as finally caught up with most of us FFA alumni and actives. A whole lot of us are from the city and belong to FFA and 4-H. I was one of those kids who belonged to those programs. I raised many animals in the city. I am glad my folks got me into the programs. I learned so much and now have a passion for it.
I appreciate the work that goes into farming and ranching. And I believe so many kids are missing that. Maybe this will help those to look twice at cutting a program that does so much beyond the classroom for students. Check out the link to the article below. Its a good read.
P.S. FFA week is coming up soon. GO FFA!!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-02-16-urban-ffa_N.htm?POE=click-refer

Good times at the WFA convention.

Well its been a week since I got back from Reno and the WFA and I was so happy I went. I met great people and was inspired for the new fair season. It was nice to attend some of the session and be apart of one. I would like to thank Judy Carrico from Alameda County Fair for thinking of me and having me participate with her on the workshop "How to build an Ag Ed Area". If you are looking for highlights and education material from the convention keep a look out on the WFA website (www.fairsnet.org) I know I will be watching it. And I would also like to thank Karen (Mrs.Tadpole) for letting me stay with her and introducing this newbie to so many nice people in the fair industry. I look forward to seeing my new and old fair friends on the road. See you all soon!!!

Lost then found again article from Central Washington State Fair.

Well I found an article about Barn Tours coming to the 2009 Central Washington State Fair awhile back ago, but sadly I had it buried in my paperwork and emails. But luckily I had found it again. So I thought I would share this article. It made me chuckle a bit and I hope it does for you too. ENJOY!!!