Ag Club uses goats to teach a lesson
JEFFERSON TWP — Making bread, growing soybeans and learning about goat products are a few things fourth and fifth graders at South Butler Intermediate Elementary School have been doing in the newly formed Ag Club.
At the group’s most recent meeting on Thursday, three additional “kids,” or baby goats, visited the club. The students learned about what goats do and what kinds of products can be made from goats, such as goat’s milk, goat’s milk soaps, and, of course, meat.
Standing in the school’s gym and holding one of the goats from his nearby farm Goodness Grows, Erik Schalm asked students, “What do you know about meat goats?”
“They make a delicious meal,” said a student.
Early exposure for students to agriculture and sustainability is important, said Kristann Lambert, one of the teachers who run the club, because such groups most often are only in use at the middle school or high school levels.
Student interest in the fledgling club has been overwhelming.
Lambert and Lauren Burgard, the other faculty leader, originally wanted to cap the group at 25 students, but then 39 students signed up the first day. So the group is larger than anticipated, but students are passionate about what they’re learning.
“It really took off,” Lambert said. “If you get them at this level, it gives them something to do when they’re older.”
By the time these clubs are usually available in the higher grades “it’s too late to get kids into it,” she said.
Students decided to join the club for a variety of reasons such as an interest in farming, in the outdoors or a combination of both.
“When I was younger, I went horseback riding and really liked it,” said Krystle Ekas, 10. “I (used to) have a baby goat at home and got to milk it.”
Many of the students have or have had farm animals at home.
Tyler Conley said he hopes to have a horse someday because his grandmother’s neighbor has one. He said the Ag Club has been informative for him.
“You get to learn about how people make a living through agriculture,” Tyler said.
“I live on a farm, and I like seeing animals,” said Walker Schwalm, 10, who helps raise pigs and goats with his family.
Walker also is a 4-H member as are a few other students in the club.
His father showed the goats at the club where students clamored over to hold and to pet.
On Thursday afternoon, Amanda Miller of Blue Goose Naturals showed students how items like soap and lotion can be made from goat’s milk. They got to try some of the lotions and take home a small bar of soap.
Later this spring, the teachers hope to have a lesson about beekeeping and to take a field trip to Marburger Dairy Farm.
The club came about after Lambert and Burgard went last summer to a Ag in the Classroom conference at Penn State University.
While the club doesn’t have much funding yet, it has partnered with the Penn State Extension and businesses.
