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

FAIR TIME IS FUN TIME!!!

It is that time of the year when the smell of corndogs are in the air and the fair memories are flooded back faster than you can "ferris wheel". But sadly in California many of the fair memories will be just that after next year. Thanks to a governor and cutting the budgets 30 fairs are on the edge of  closing their doors forever. So many of the fairs depend on the funding from the state to help run the annual event. So many of us have grown up going to the fair with our parents or grandparents and have fond memories. Why shouldn't our children have the same memories?
Many people are forgetting the roots of the county fair, which is to share with the community the best of what they have, and to educate what is going on with in the county. The fair started for a way for farmers to show off their best animals and sell them to other farmers looking to improve their herds and for the children and wives to show off their prized recipes and artwork. The under tone of the fair is to educate your neighbor on what you are doing so that maybe they can take back the knowledge and make it work for them on their farm. So many of us have left the farm and no longer need to bring back the prize winning bull home but the concept is still there; learn what your neighbor is doing and hopefully bring back that knowledge back home with you.

So go out there to your local fair and learn something new from your neighbor  and take it home and apply it. While you are there make a new memory and support your local county fair.

Teach AG day March 24th!

Teach Ag day is right around the corner and its an exciting day! We can appreciate those who teach us about agriculture in the classroom and out. I know I love teaching people one thing new about agriculture. For so many of us agriculture is our passion and lively hood. I also love being a student of agriculture I love learning new things about the industry.

As a kid growing up I wasn't around the traditional farming, what I learned was from a small scale, a book or a field trip. My dad was a great teacher of agriculture to me and my brother cause he was the first one to teach me how to plant vegetables and care for the fruit trees. In high school I had a few ag teachers, Mr. Bruga and Mr. Appleby, they were great! They had a challenge of teaching us city kids all about agriculture and they did it. I'll never forget Mr. Appleby my sophomore year asking all of us to write on the board what we wanted to learn about agriculture, and I never saw a class of 35 kids so eager to get up and write on a board what we wanted to learn. That year was a great year, I don't think a kid skipped a class cause we all wanted to learn. So thank you to Mr. Appleby for taking all of our ideas and turning them into a year's worth of lessons and teaching us what we wanted to learn! I'm years out of high school and college and I still remember those ag classes and loved learning about agriculture.

I had the best teachers and professors of agriculture and I'm so glad that I can have a day to share my gratitude to them. I hope that I can be as memorable as a teacher as they were to me.

HAPPY NATIONAL AG DAY!

Happy National Ag day!

Today is a day we celebrate the farmer and the rancher that provides for us. But really this day should be celebrated everyday. So many of us are removed from the family farm we take for grant it some of the little things in life the farmers help provide. It is such a luxury to go to the grocery store and find all the fresh fruit, vegetables and meat just waiting there for us. Over time we have become more fortunate thanks to all the convenient foods available at the store as well. It wasn't so many generations ago that everyone was made from scratch and grown in our own backyards.
It doesn't matter your views on farming or ranching as long as we call can agree that it takes hard work and dedication to make the food on our table. So don't forget to thank the farmer or rancher that helped provide those meals you enjoy daily!