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MO cattle teaching farm hits ground running
A new beef cattle teaching farm is building up its facilities and herd to educate high school students on cattle industry opportunities.
Tammy Bartholomew, the executive director of the Show Me Youth Ag Academy, tells Brownfield the nearly 170-acre operation outside of Lamar, Missouri will cover every aspect of beef cattle business – including an off-sight 400 head feed lot.
“These students are getting direct hands-on education with everything from conception to chef,” she said. “And [they’re] getting to understand the entire beef pipeline.”
Bartholomew said funding was provided by private donors in May and farm development started in July.
“The number one goal is providing these experiences for the kids and [for] as many students as we possibly can,” she said.
She said kids with ag and non-ag related backgrounds are operating the farm with management mostly being handled by Lamar high school students, but the academy is open to all school districts.
“These are juniors and seniors, and so, the hope is that they’ve had a good foundation in animal science their sophomore year in their curriculum and then they’re ready to come in and start trying to hit animal science and ag business at a little bit higher level,” Bartholomew said.
Bartholomew said the academy has been funded for three years but aims to become self-sufficient and continue expansion – adding programs like an AI school.
