It's a real Ag-Venture for 3rd-graders

The 10th annual Ag-Venture provides third-graders with the sights, sounds, touches, tastes and smells of agriculture in Highlands County.

Unlike the earliest Ag-Ventures with posters of animals, the event has progressed to plenty of the real thing - goats, a horse, calves, roosters, hens, lamb, pigs and a turkey.

But the real thing was a bit too realistic Tuesday for a girl approaching the exhibit building housing the farm animals.

"I smell manure - eww," she said.

The students experienced plenty of things with more pleasant smells when they made butter, pressed grapes, squeezed fresh orange juice and made strawberry milkshakes.

Third-graders from Avon, Park, and Memorial and Woodlawn elementary schools attended the nearly day-long event Tuesday at the Highlands County Fair Grounds. Third-graders from Lake Placid and Lake Country will attend today followed by Cracker Trail, Fred Wild and Sun 'n Lake elementary schools.

After each presentation the students are invited to ask questions, which can range from something simple to answer such as "how do you get a horse to go?" to a question that requires a little more thought and tact to answer such as "how does a steer give birth?"

Cowboy/rancher Steve Bronson faced that latter question on birth on Tuesday.

He started to say that the animal is a mammal like we are and before he could say much more the air horn sounded, which signaled its time for the students to move on to the next station.

With the help of more than 125 volunteers, the students were introduced to local industries, including: the production of citrus, beef/cattle, vegetable, ornamental horticulture, poultry, forestry, strawberries, soil and water conservation, grapes, dairy foods, alligators, caladiums, bees and farm animals.

After a dairy presentation where students made butter from heavy whipping cream, Susie Bishop asked the students about the health benefits of milk.

"It helps our bones stay healthy," Mia Jones of Memorial Elementary said.

"What else - there is one other thing that milk is real important for?" Bishop asked.

"Your teeth," a student answered.

"That's exactly right," Bishop said.

As she was moving to the next station, Jones said of Ag-Venture, "it's cool."

What did Jones like the best so far?

"Milking the cow simulated, touching the cow and making butter," she replied.

With two model landscapes, Erin McCarta demonstrated how fertilizer and pesticide runoff negatively affects the water quality of a lake.

After sprinkling small granules to simulate fertilizer and pesticides, she poured water onto the tilted model causing the granules to flow into a lake.

"What's happening to Lake Jorge?" McCarta asked.

"It's getting nasty," the students replied.

A similar demonstration on a model showed less runoff due to a wetlands feature around the lake.

The cost of Ag-Venture is 100 percent funded through tax deductible donations from individuals, organizations and businesses in Highlands County.

FAST FACT

The cost of Ag-Venture is 100 percent funded through tax deductible donations from individuals, organizations and businesses in Highlands County.