During a field day Friday, area students enjoyed a day on the farm without having to leave Emporia. The day was designed to educate students about farming activities and conservation.
Students from several schools, including Americus, Olpe, Chase County, Neosho Rapids, Admire, Reading, Lebo and Emporia gathered at the Lyon County Fairgrounds on the chilly spring morning to listen to and, in some cases, participate in farming activities.
For the first activity, students huddled under on the bleachers of an arena to watch a sheep being sheared. The sheep was sheared in the Australian method, which is when the person shearing the sheep holds the sheep instead of tying it, the announcer said.
Students commented on the shearing as the wool came off in a large chunk. The announcer joked as he said it was kinda cruel to take the sheep’s coat away from it on such a chilly day.
“Wool doesn’t burn,” the announcer said. “Synthetic materials will burn really fast but wool won’t.”
Students inquired on how much money wool brings in. It doesn’t even bring in enough to cover the price of the shearing, they were told.
“There is too much competition in Australia and New Zealand,” the students were told. “They got too much wool.”
After the sheep-shearing demonstration, students broke up into groups and went to various stations in the Anderson Building. At one station, kids were mesmerized as they got to touch an owl from the David Traylor Zoo of Emporia. Another station taught them about gun safety. Other stations included lawn-mower safety and education about combines, bee hives and a trailer that featured a demonstration on water quality.
Later in the day, students saw a magic show.
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Posted by dml (anonymous) on May 2, 2009 at 10:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Who put this on?
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