Agricultural ambassadors

By Mary Alice Garrett

This story originally appeared November 24, 2005 in The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware.

MIDDLETOWN — Farms may be getting scarce in Middletown, but interest in agriculture remains high among the younger generation.

Middle- and high-school students are keeping area agricultural history alive as they board their livestock at host farms or hatch baby chicks in the classroom. Many are studying agriculture as a related art — much like music. At Louis L. Redding Middle School, students may elect a 12-week course in agriculture taught by Debbie Kirk, who was active in 4-H and Future Farmers of America as a young girl in Townsend. Though her family didn't have a farm, "we did raise our own pork and shicken," ag major Kirk recalled.

Kirk and other Appoquinimink educators now call on a dwindling number of farm families to help them teach agriculture. They’ve also founded FFA chapters at their schools.

Last-week, Kirk asked 14-year-old Laura Emerson "to present agriculture" to her fellow students at Redding. Emerson lives on an 1,800-acre Middletown dairy farm and is president of Redding’s new FFA Chapter. Her father, Lee Emerson, brought two dairy cows to the school and stood nearby as Laura questioned the youngsters -on "Cow Trivia."

"How many times a day do you milk a cow," Laura asked.

"Oh, I know 10," said one boy. Another said four. The correct answer was two to three.

"At my house, we milk at 3 a.m. and at 3 p.m.," said Laura. "How long does a cow sleep?," Laura asked. No one came close on that one — eight to 15 minutes a day.

"When does a cow make the most milk — standing up, sitting down or upside down?" The answer was when sitting down.

"How many stomachs does a cow have?" Laura asked. The answer was one stomach with four compartments.

"Remember, cows chew their cud 50 times a day" Kirk added. Like deer and sheep, cows are ruminants, Kirk continued.

Laura introduced Dolly, a year-old Jersey cow, and Ruby, a pregnant Holstein. Kirk told the students that in order for a cow to produce milk, it must remain pregnant. Laura said that Dolly would be bred "in a couple months."

Laura and her brother Robbie, 16, show farm animals at fairs from Virginia to Pennsylvania. Dolly was named junior champion at the Delaware State Fair last summer when she was shown by Robbie. Middletown High School classmates Becky Cox and Robbie recently captured gold medals at a National Dairy Cattle Evaluation Career Development event.

Classmates expressed interest in how Laura prepares a cow for a show.

"If we have a white cow, we will scrub it until it gets pink," Laura said. She sprinkled baby powder on Ruby's white spots.

"It makes the white - whiter," she said. After much brushing, spray paint is applied to the cow's feet, Laura added.

Laura spoke about the downside of dairy farming. "We're milking like 150 cows. Remember the cows have to be milked every day, even on holidays. We get up at three to milk the cows and at five or six to feed the calves - then we have breakfast."

A milking machine can milk a cow in three to five minutes, Laura said. She also demonstrated how to milk Ruby manually.

"I made milk," yelled English teacher Sherry Geesaman. "I’ve lived in Middletown 21 years and never milked a cow."

Several other students and teachers came forward to milk Ruby.

Christopher Petrella, 13, petted Ruby. "She tried to eat my shirt," he said as he wiped drool from his shirt.

"It was pretty fun," said Kalli Riley 12. "I don’t live on a farm, but I like all the animals — cows, pigs and stuff."

Laura spoke to six different school groups at Redding.

"The reality is she knows a whole lot more about dairy farms than I do because she’s lived on a dairy farm her whole life," said Kirk.

Inside Kirk’s classroom, seventh-graders kept an eye on 21 chicken eggs due to hatch soon in an incubator Using a flashlight, Alex Cordero, 14, and Sarah Cannon, 12, checked on the growth of the embryos.

Milk from the Emersons’ cows is kept in a large refrigerated tank until it’s picked up in a tank truck. From there, it goes to a Land O’Lakes co—op where it’s pasteurized and homogenized and then taken to Wawa Dairy in Pennsylvania.

"There are very few dairy farms left in New Castle County" said Lee Emerson. His father, Robert Emerson, still works on the farm and his son, Robbie, will join them full time after completing his education.

"It’s easy for me," Emerson said. "Not everybody has that privilege."