The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

The Big Sandy High School Ag Program took 12 kids and 3 adults to Texas two weeks ago to attend the Fort Worth Stock Show. This is nearly double the number of students who are typically able to attend this type event. In addition to the larger number of attendees, the destination of the trip was also unusual as our FFA usually travels to Denver for the Denver Stock Show.

I spoke with Lane Taylor, Big Sandy High's Ag teacher, about the outing. He explained that the stock show trips came into existence his first year as a teacher in Big Sandy. "...We rotate and go to national convention every other year, and it was a year to go to national convention. I was a brand new teacher here with with new kids, no money in my budget, and it's usually a fall activity. I approached the kids that said 'Look, I don't feel like we can I can be prepared and be ready to take you guys to national convention. I need to get my feet underneath me. But I'll tell you what, the seniors I'll take you guys in January, that'll give us time. Instead of going to Nationals, this year we'll go to the Denver Stock Show. So that's what we did. We took a group of kids my first year here five years ago to the Denver Stock Show. In some respects, that's a lot more economical, because we could drive to Denver. There's a lot to see and do, and there's a lot that's offered in the stock shows in terms of agriculture and exploration stuff." Mr. Taylor explained to the kids that the stock show trip could potentially happen every four or 5 years, making it a once-in-your-high-school-experience opportunity.

"Here we are five years later, and I had an alumni member approach me and said, 'Hey, are you guys thinking about doing a stock show this year?'" The alumnus suggested that they "look at the Fort Worth Stock Show." He indicated that sometimes, you can get some pretty cheap tickets through Southwest Airlines from Bozeman to Fort Wort. It's kind of the same timeframe. The idea of going down to Texas where it's nice and sunny and warm and seeing a part of the agriculture that is very different, in Texas, than what we would see and some breeds of cattle and livestock and operations that are different based on its climate." The alumnus agreed to take on the leg work, in terms of the bookings, planning, and whatnot. In addition, the students set about raising the money to defray the cost of the trip.

"The alumnus provided a steer for the kids to sell raffle tickets for to try to help, and we were gonna just gonna dedicate 100% of whatever they sold to help pay for their trip. The kids could kind of work their way and earn their costs to go, and [the alumnus] put the trip together."

"We opened up the applications and we ended up with 12 kids that applied, and I didn't have the heart to tell any one of the 12 kids that they couldn't come." The trip was paid for through fundraising on the students' part and they paid the difference themselves.

The Fort Worth Stock Show provided great educational opportunities for the Big Sandy Students. Mr. Taylor explained that like any stock show, "kids are coming and bringing livestock. They're showing them competitively in the arena. You're seeing livestock quality, probably at a higher level than maybe what we would see at our local county fair. So these are kids traveling from multiple states all over the country. You can watch the lambs and watch some really, really premium lambs. For example, the grand champion steer at the Denver stock show might sell for $150,000. Our local steer would maybe bring $3,000 or $4,000. When you're starting to see livestock that are that are at that level, you're seeing tremendous livestock being brought in. It's the NFL of livestock showing. The quality of animals at the competition is at a whole other level. So that's interesting to look at and to watch through." In addition, the animals on display provided interesting opportunities for students to learn "There were barns for pigs and barns for the sheep. I counted five different barns of cattle. We were seeing breeds of cattle that you never ever even get to see in Montana... We don't see very many of those exotic breeds, like Brahman cattle, Brangus cattle, Santa Gertrudis cattle. Those cattle are designed to have for warmer climates, and they're from a different ancestry all together. They look

totally, totally different. The big long droopy years, the big, big hump over their shoulders, and the longer briskets. Their dispositions are a little different. These are animals that maybe they've only seen pictures of when I teach the breeds and livestock unit. They got to see some of that in person, which is kind of cool. So not only are they seeing some of the traditional breeds, but some non-traditional breeds."

Mr. Taylor explained that, "There's also a huge trade shows, going on with all kinds of industries. There are these livestock shows, so you can walk through,giant trade shows and look at all that stuff. There's educational exhibits. There's entertainment stuff." Students also got the opportunity to see various shows involving horses. In particular, he pointed out the wild mustang training and competitions.

The event was worthwhile because, "It's really huge. You could spend hours walking through and looking at the animals, you're watching kids fitting and preparing the animals for show. You can sit and watch and learn how to do that a little bit better on a more professional level. That's kind of what the Stock Show has offered."

Apart from the many things the students saw and visited during the stock show, Mr. Taylor talked about the various entertainment experiences the students got to take part in. "Of course when we got down there we try to take in some other things in that area. We spent some time and went to the JFK assassination location and museum and learned a little bit about that portion of our history. He explained that the museum provided an opportunity for the kids to experience a defining moment in the history of our country, which is outside of the experience in their own lifetimes.

They were also able to check out other tourist type experiences "We got to see the old stock yards, where they learned a little bit about the history of the beginning of the Chisholm Trail, where cattle were driven from Fort Worth to Kansas." At the stock yards, the students also learned about the arrival of the railroad and how it changed ranching. The students also "got to experience some Texas barbecue." In addition, the kids went to a rodeo to watch bull riding and spent an evening at a Medieval Times restaurant for dinner and a show. One day of the trip was spent at a Six Flags, an amusement park in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area.

"There was some fun, there was some education, there was some entertainment, and there was lots of sunshine. It was fantastic. It was a great trip with great kids."