Macon Agriculture Communications
Agri-News Monthly
March
Special points of
interest:
• Star Member: Ryan
Stoecklein
• Proficiency Awards
• Snow Mobiles
• Upcoming Events
• Jokes
Inside this issue:
Loud Engines and Black
Smoke Must Mean A
Tractor Pull
2
Drought Causes Problems for Argentina Beef
Industry
2
All About Wild Turkeys
3
Beef Industry Recovery
4
Benefits of Poultry
Farms
4
Problems with Snow
4
Are You Smarter Than
A Farmer?
6
Volume 2, Issue 5
Agriculture Education Today: Personal Success Tomorrow
By: Nancy Jackson
With over 24 million
people employed by agriculture in some stage from selling
products in grocery stores to
growing fiber and food, agriculture is the largest employer in
the United States. The number of farms in the United
States totals over 2 million and
holds an average of 441 acres
per farm. Agricultural education addresses standards in
citizenship, environment, economics, and agricultural awareness. Agriculture education is
referred to as integrated curriculum that allows students to
understand concepts in a variety of settings through applying
those skills. Not only does
agriculture teach just key concepts related to agri-science,
also integrated in agriculture
programs are math and science
contexts applied in the classroom and shop. For some
students, traditional learning is
not as beneficial as hands on
learning as is experienced in
agriculture, which can help
them develop in many areas of
their education and personal
life.
Agricultural education programs in high
school are
split into
three components:
classroom/
laboratory,
Supervised
Agricultural
Experiences,
and FFA.
Supervised Agricultural Experiences provide students the
ability to experience operating
their own enterprise and learning the business side of agriculture. SAE projects can be
anything from raising animals,
working on a farm, to working
Toxic Milk on China’s Shelves
In 2008, melaminelaced milk powder and watered down milk products
were affecting babies and
children. It was reported
that 294,000 have gotten
sick and six have died from
the toxic milk.
The babies that
drank the milk are suffering
kidney-related problems.
for an agricultural business.
Classroom and laboratory
curriculums provide a foundation of education on agricultural practices which prepares
them for a career in natural
resources, food, and fiber industries. The National FFA
Organization
teaches principles
to promote personal growth,
premier leadership, and career
success. Agriculture education is
vital in today’s
society. Without
teaching students
the skills in these
areas, agriculture would not
exist, leaving our country without food, clothing, and shelter.
By: Melissa Wilson
The children that where
infected are no longer
needing medical care and
they thought the worst was
over.
China thought they
had collected the toxic milk.
Until two dairies in northern Ningxia where shut
down. Tainted milk powder along with sweets made
with the tainted powder
were being sold in the northeastern province of Jilin.
It was on the United
States’ shelves in 2008, so far
there have been no reports
of it hitting the United States
as of yet, but it is always
good to be forewarned.
Agri-News Monthly
Loud Engines and Black Smoke Must Mean Tractor Pull
In 1929, farmers
began hitching their field
tractors to weighted sleds
and roaring down a track to
see who could pull it the
farthest. The first events
were held at Bowling Green,
Missouri, and Vaughansville,
Ohio, although tractor pulls
weren’t a recognized sport.
At these events they realized
that the black smoke from
the tractor attracted larger
crowds and by the 1969 the
NTPA (National Tractor Pullers Association) was created
and Truck and Tractor Pulling became a sport.
The sport began
with tractors that would work
in the field right after the
pulls, to tractors with four
Fun Fact:
42 percent of
Americas
land is
By: Travis Noyes
engines were common just
for the pulls. Turbo-chargers
were added to engines. A
two-wheel and four-wheel
drive division was added for
people who didn’t
own a tractor and
has become very
popular. Now modern day drivers are
adapting their tractors to fit jet engines
from helicopters.
Today, the only
things that make
some of the machines look like tractors are the tires and the
operator position.
Star Member: Ryan Stoecklein
Each month our team chooses a star member from our FFA chapter. This month
we have chosen Ryan Stoecklein as our star member. He is a junior and also serves
as the Historian on the officer team. His Supervised Agricultural Experience is raising crossbred cattle and hogs for show and market. He enjoys hunting, fishing, riding horses, and four wheelers. Of course we all have favorite FFA activities and his
happens to be the Bass Tournament. His future plans after high school consists of
going to college for general agriculture and/or conservation.
farmland.
Drought Causes Problems for Argentina Beef Industry
Page 2
The Argentina Rural
Society says that drought has
caused pastures to dry up, and
as a result forage prices have
went up so much that farmers
are allowing livestock to die in
the fields. Arturo Llavallol says
ranchers are killing more than
usual numbers of breeding
stock. This is an issue for Argentina because Argentina is
the biggest beef consuming
nation in the world.
Another problem is a
move made by the Argentina
Government in 2006 to restrict beef exports to boost
supplies in the local market.
The good news is consumption, which in 2006 was less
than 60 kilograms per person.
Now it is 70 kilograms or 154
pounds of beef per person.
By: Dalton Green
All About Wild Turkeys
In the early 1930s,
the wild turkey was near extinction. Thanks to hunters and
wildlife restoration programs,
the wild turkey is now thriving
in its homeland. There are four
subspecies of the wild turkey,
the Eastern Osceola, Rio
Grande, Merriam’s and the
Gould’s. All four subspecies
range throughout different
parts of the U.S.
Wild turkeys have
between 5,000 and 6,000 feathers covering their body in patterns called feather tracts.
These feathers keep them dry
and warm, and allow them to
fly. The feathers on the male
turkey, also called the gobbler,
allow him to show off to the
female turkey, also called the
hen. Their heads and neck are
featherless. Wild turkeys have
excellent vision during the day
but can not see very well at
night. They can run up to
25mph and they can fly up to
55mph.
The wild turkey likes
open areas for feeding, mating
and habitat. They like to use
forested areas as protection
from predators and roosting in
the trees at night. An area with
both open and covered area is
essential for wild turkey survival. Quality habitat for turkeys has been a problem in the
past, but wildlife restoration
Proficiency Awards
Area III FFA Proficiency Award selections were
held on February 17, 2010. A
proficiency award application is
a way to evaluate and compare
students Supervised Agricultural Experience programs.
Proficiency awards evaluate a
student’s total program. Students set goals for their SAE
and accomplishing these goals
in the future. They also evaluate pictures, scope, net worth,
growth, and FFA activities.
This year several FFA members
Snow Mobiles
This is the time of
year that people are selling
their snow mobiles. Therefore,
it would be a good time to
purchase one for the following
year. You can normally get one
a lot cheaper now than at the
beginning of winter.
With the winter that
we have had in this area, it
makes you strongly consider
buying a snowmobile for transportation and also for fun. If
your family does not own a
four wheel drive truck, a snowmobile will help you get to
town if you need essential
By: Shelby Dunseith
programs now have money to
use to restore wild turkey
habitat.
By: Zach McElhaney
did an excellent job representing the chapter when competing against other students in
the area. Nick Thrasher placed
1st Vegetable Production, Jamie
Clithero placed 1st in Equine
Science Entrepreneurship,
James Schweiter placed 1st in
Oil Production. These three
students will get to move on
and compete at the state level
and be recognized on stage at
State FFA Convention in April.
Other students participating in
Area III Proficiency selection
Volume 2, Issue 5
were: 3rd place Brandon Clema
in Turf Grass management, 3rd
place Joseph Lolli in Specialty
Animal Production, 3rd place
Andrew Helton in Swine Production, 3rd place Hayden
Carter in Wildlife Products and
Management.
Fun Fact:
More than 15 percent
of the U.S
population is
employed in
agriculture or farm
related work.
By: Trever Cunningham
things like food, water, etc. The
winter that we had this year was
one of the worst in the past few
years. It
would be a
good thing to
consider purchasing if you
have the extra
money.
Page 3
Agri-News Monthly
Benefits of Poultry Farms
When people talk
about poultry farms, most
people think of just chickens but its not. Poultry is
all the fowls including
ducks, turkeys, geese, and
guineas. There are a few
different reasons why people raise fowls. Two of the
main reasons are for eggs
and meat production. They
can also use the feathers
for other things, like coats
and pillows. The eggs can
be used as food, in paint,
and medical vaccines.
Poultry food is
By: Ben Morris
about 60% of
the cost of
raising them.
Chicken
farming has
come a long
way. It used
to be the
wife’s job to
go out and
feed the
chickens in the yard as
they roamed free. Then
she would gather the eggs
wherever she could find
them before they became
rotten. Now the poultry
are in a building and have
Beef Cattle Industry Hopeful for 2010 Recovery
Fun Fact:
Farmers and
ranchers supply
food and habitat
for 75 percent
of Missouri’s
wildlife.
Page 4
Available supplies of
beef will drop in the U.S. as
production declines and exports increase. The demand
will increase as the U.S economy continues to climb back
from the depths of the recession. The beef cow numbers
have had a drop of one percent. Dairy cow numbers are
down three percent in 2009 as
herd reductions resulted from
large financial losses. Number
of heifers is down two percent
indicating that beef cow numbers will continue their slow
decline through this year.
This year is to be
expected to be healing for a
battered beef industry as
smaller supplies and recovering
incomes swing cattle prices
upward. Thus most cattle pro-
Problems with Snow
their own small pen in
which they lay their eggs
or can grow big and fat,
depending on their purpose.
By: Zach McElhaney
ducers will approach with optimism, but also with caution.
By: Nick Thrasher
All this snow is causing problems in the beef industries. Now some
farmers are calving in the snow and rain. You have to feed a little more hay and
grain so your cattle don’t get weak. Most of your hay gets stomped in the
ground and gets covered in snow before the cattle eats it all.
If you have some older cattle, you might consider feeding the hay as close to their water source as
you can. With all the snow and freezing rain the old
cattle could slip and break a leg or hip and would most
likely die. So you want your cattle to walk as little as
possible. The snow and rain is hard on the little calves
too. Some newborn calves can get stuck in snow
drifts and freeze to death. When the cows are calving
try to keep them a barn so you don’t have as many
losses.
I hope you have a good calving season and
good luck. Try to keep your losses down and get the
most profit you can out of this weather.
Volume 2, Issue 5
During the FFA Barnwarming Dance the Barnwarming
King and Queen were
crowned. This year Tucker
Oliver was crowned king
and Nancy Jackson was
crowned queen.
Jokes
A farmer was milking his cow.
He was just starting to get a
good rhythm going when a bug
flew into the barn and started
circling his head. Suddenly, the
bug flew into the cow's ear.
The farmer didn't think much
about it, until the bug squirted
out into his bucket. It went in
one ear and out the udder.
The farmer's son was returning from the market with
the crate of chickens his father had entrusted to him,
when all of a sudden the box fell and broke open.
Chickens scurried off in different directions, but the
determined boy walked all over the neighborhood
scooping up the wayward birds and returning them to
the repaired crate. Hoping he had found them all, the
boy reluctantly returned home, expecting the worst.
"Pa, the chickens got loose," the boy confessed sadly,
"but I managed to find all twelve of them."
"Well, you did real good, son," the farmer beamed.
"You left with seven."
A rooster
cannot crow
unless it
extends its
neck to its
full length.
Greenhand and
Chapter Degree
recipients were honored at the Degree
Ceremony held on
Tuesday, February
23, 2010
Chapter Degree Recipients
Greenhand Degree Recipients
Page 5
Volume 2, Issue 5
March 2010
Sun
Schedule of Events
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5
6
March 1st-Macon FFA Chapter
Meeting
March 8th-Area Officer Interviews-4:30pm at Kirksville
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
March 12th-Animal Day
March 16th-Area 3 FFA Contest-4:30pm at Kirksville
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
March 16th-State FFA Officer
Interviews-4:30pm at Kirksville
March 22nd-District FFA Contest & Ag Sales-4:30pm at
Monroe City
March 25th-Alumni & YF Appreciation Dinner-6:00pm
March 29th-Officer Meeting
Are You Smarter Than A Farmer?
1.
2.
3.
How many miles per hour can a honey bee fly?
How far will a hive of bees fly for a pound of honey?
How many flowers must honey bees tap to make a pound of honey?
4.
5.
How many feathers does a mature turkey have?
How many different breeds of sheep are in the United States?
6.
7.
8.
9.
What is the longest flight for a chick?
How far can a cow detect the smell of something?
How many acres of pizza are eaten by Americans each day?
How much more percent broccoli are we eating today than we were 20 years ago?
10. How many sheep breeds are there in the world?
11. How long does it take a combine to harvest enough wheat to make 70 loaves of bread?
12.
How much percent of pumpkins are water?
Page 6
Macon Agriculture
Communications
Production Staff
Cody Bisch—Team Leader
Nancy Jackson— Editor
702 N. Missouri
Macon, MO 63552
Phone: (660) 385-2158
E-mail:
[email protected]
Dalton Green—Reporter
Trever Cunningham—
Reporter
Zach McElhaney—
Reporter
Travis Noyes—Reporter
Ben Morris—Reporter
WE’RE ON THE WEB
WWW.MACON.K12.MO.US/FFA
Shelby Dunseith—
Reporter
Melissa Wilson—Reporter
The AG Communications class was a
new addition to the high school curriculum last year! This class is in charge of
producing the newsletter each month,
informing FFA members and students
in agriculture classes of upcoming
events, and updating
our newly established website. AG
Communications can also possibly be
taken as an embedded English credit,
since graduation requirements are preventing some students from taking
classes they want to take.
Feel free to visit our website at
www.macon.k12.mo.us/FFA for
more information about FFA opportunities, events, and officers!
Are You Smarter Than A Farmer Answers
1.
15 mph
2.
55,000 miles
3.
two million
4.
3500
5.
6.
47
13 seconds
7.
six miles
8.
100 acres
9.
900%
10. 914
11. 9 seconds
12. 90%