WILLMAR -- At the Kandiyohi County Fair, the FFA students overseeing children's barnyard learn plenty about educating the public about livestock while they work with the families and children who come to visit the cute, petable baby animals in the barnyard.
The barnyard attendants, FFA chapter members from around the county, answer the usual questions from curious children during their shifts in the little red building up the hill from the livestock barns.
"We give answers to a lot of questions," says Michaela Bengtson, New London-Spicer FFA member who will be a sophomore this fall. "Whether it be what they eat or what their name is."
Bengtson considers the county fair barnyard, which includes goat kids, a beef calf, geese, chickens, turkey poults, a donkey and two sheep, as training for her upcoming week-long stint of working with the metropolitan public at the Cenex-Harvest States Miracle of Birth Center at the Minnesota State Fair.
Bengtson is looking forward to educating people about livestock and animal agriculture, plus she's going to tag along with her older sister Lindsey, who is serving as the state FFA treasurer this year.
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What's surprising is that local children usually know what chickens and geese are, but they don't necessarily know much about larger farm animals.
"The kids come in and say 'look at the pretty horse' and it's a calf," Bengtson said.
Even the FFA members working the barnyard are learning more about animals. Claudia Thompson, who will be a sophomore at NLS this fall, says she can answer the easy questions from the young children, but she directs the more challenging inquiries to other FFA members.
"I'm learning a lot too," she said. "I don't live on a farm."
The teens were noticing that some children come every day to pet the animals. One of the key jobs is making sure the children and adults are gentle with the livestock and that no one gets hurt. On Friday, the FFA members were helping the children to carefully and gently hold the tiny turkey poults housed in a box under a lamp.
The teens work with a wide variety of people at the local fair, and like to hear the stories parents tell their children about growing up on the farm with livestock.
"It's cool to see the parents teaching their kids," Bengtson said. "It's fun to hear the stories they tell."
