– Nathan Briar
***The writer is enrolled in Comm 240 News Reporting.***
The Beef Production class did a service learning project in the Quad on Thursday, May 1, designed to educate people about agriculture and raising cattle.
Brittany Howell, associate professor of agriculture, said this is the sixth year her Beef Production class has put on this event.
“I feel this event is important to give my students an opportunity to engage with others about their passion, raising cattle and producing beef,” Howell said. “The average consumer is two to four generations away from agriculture and living on a farm, so they don’t know very much about how food is produced.”
Howell said that her Beef Production class has 10 students, all of whom helped organize and participated in the event.
“Our booth is meant to educate people on the different cuts of meats,” said Shelly Chambers, Agat, Colo., freshman, who is a member of the Meat Judging Team at Fort Hays State, adding that this is the first year Fort Hays has had a Meat Judging Team.
Clem Fellhoelter, Grinnell senior, said he had been working on his project all semester. Fellhoelter had a display about water quality.
“The display shows what’s in your water, where the possible pollutants can come from and how we can help prevent that from happening,” Fellhoelter said.
Also included at the event were free hamburgers, hotdogs and ice cream, which viewers received after visiting the displays. Collegiate Farm Bureau and Ellis County Farm Bureau donated the food for the event.
Other groups at the event were Jean Gleichsner’s Fertility and Fertilizers class, which had two water quality demonstrations; Alpha Gamma Rho, which sold “EAT BEEF” license tags and gave brisket samples from a recipe that recently won a national award; the FHSU Meat Judging Team; and the Agronomy Club, which sold “EAT BEEF” shirts.
Kansas Farm Bureau Foundation, Cargill Meat Solutions and Kansas Beef Council all co-sponsored the event.
Guest speakers at the event were Barb Downey of Downey Ranch and the Kansas Beef Council chair; Mary Ann Kniebel of Kniebel Farms and Cattle Co., who serves on the USDA Advisory Committee for Animal Health; and Debbie Lyons-Blythe of Blythe Angus, who has been named Farm Mom of the Year.