Students grow crops, raise livestock at working farm

There's always work to be done on a farm and that holds true for the H.E. Robinson Agricultural Education Center in Kalispell, even when school is out for summer and holiday breaks.

Whether waiting for animals to give birth, bottle feeding lambs every two hours, or looking for a sunny window of time to cut hay, farming operations never cease on the ag center's 135-acre working farm.

Keeping it going year-round are the dedicated staff and Flathead and Glacier high school students who tend to wheat, barley and alfalfa crops; raise cattle, sheep and pigs; and maintain equipment.

On June 22, the intense afternoon sunlight illuminated clouds of dust lifting from below a tractor being driven by Flathead student Hunter Nicholson as he cut hay. Like many other tasks on the farm, haying is dictated by the weather.

"Basically we're going off of the weather. So, when there's sun going, you know, we make hay. When the sun shines, you cut," Nicholson said, explaining that working in rain usually leads to rot. "Normally everyone cuts after the Fourth of July, but right now we've got a nice window of heat and all that, so we're hoping to get quite a bit of it cut and we can start baling."

"We'll cut it; then it dries; and once the top layer dries, we'll come through and rake it to flip it so the bottom layer can dry and the middle then can dry. Then we will come through with the baler," Nicholson said, and the bales will be stacked in the ag center barn where it will be used to feed the livestock and sold to customers with proceeds going back into next year's crops.

ACROSS THE way, Glacier High School student Ariah Thomas stood in a canola field — the vivid green leaves and stalks punctuated by bright-yellow petals — as she worked to fix a motor on the farm's irrigation system.

Nicholson, Thomas and Gracie Stolfus were hired to work on the ag center farm over the summer months when school is out.

This year, students were hired to fill one full-time and two part-time employees from June to August when school is out.

"We usually hire two full-time positions. It was hard to find employees this summer like everybody," ag center instructor Brian Bay said. "We can't compete with some of the employers on an hourly wage, but it worked out great."

Both Nicholson and Thomas, who will be juniors in the fall, noted the perks of working outside doing what they enjoy and might do as careers. Nicholson, who raises market lambs and whose family produces hay, eggs and beef on a few acres, is looking forward to a career in farming and after graduation, his family plans to move to Lewistown where there is more land available for farming and ranching.

"It's one of those things where you can see where your food comes from. A lot of people don't get that experience," he said.

Thomas said students who work on the ag center farm over the summer get to do "a little bit of everything" over the summer, however, being outside and working with animals was the biggest draw, she said.

"We feed livestock, we move livestock, we do fences. Just a little bit ago we were doing auger feed for the pigs."

She said it's a good opportunity to do work that is different in other seasons.

"It's a great way to learn a lot of things out here. We learn quite a bit in the classroom, but in the summer it's quite a bit different. You learn about haying. You learn about irrigation a bit more."

Thomas, who will be a junior in the fall and is part of the FFA livestock, sales and veterinary science team, said she is currently exploring a career in veterinary science.

"When I was younger I really wanted to be a veterinarian. I am still kind of on that path, but I really don't know yet," she said about the extensive schooling and training it takes to become a veterinarian.

Other than a parent who grew up on a farm, the center was Thomas' primary exposure to the world of agriculture. She learned about Kalispell Public Schools' vocational agriculture program during a presentation at Kalispell Middle School when she was an eighth-grader.

ON JUNE 29, the hot evening air was cooled down for steer and lambs being hosed down and groomed by FFA students putting in some volunteer hours, including students Hollie Estey and Ella Rauch, who will be seniors at Glacier in the fall. This is important for show cattle in particular, according to Rauch, to help them retain their winter coats and encourage growth.

"With show cattle, hair growth will hide all the imperfections," Rauch said. "When they get super hot they shed all their hair off. If we rinse him every day for 30 minutes it will cool him down."

Besides the fair steers owned by FFA students, the ag center owns 16 cows that are used for instructional purposes.

Over by a grooming table, Estey holds onto a lamb, stabilizing him as Bay shears its coat. He said the lamb will sire the ag center's future flock. The ag center currently has 15 ewes.

"We're giving him basic care so he's easier to work with when it comes to breeding time," Estey said. "Right now I'm feeding him and halter-training him."

Thomas summed it up most succinctly when asked if work is ever done on the farm.

"Nope. It keeps going," she said with a smile. "You are never bored on a farm."

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com