ISU students and Nevada fourth-graders teamed up for a day of learning Thursday at the ISU Teaching Farms.

As part of the agriculture leadership course, about 30 ISU students organized and hosted an Agricultural ISU Learning Day for 80 nine- and 10-year-olds to learn more about farm life.

“When they jumped off the bus many of them were plugging their noses,” said Mitch Hoefling, senior in agricultural studies. By the end of the day students were more educated on agricultural life and no longer needed to plug their noses.

The fourth graders learned about agronomy, machinery safety, swine and beef and dairy cattle during the all-day event. Some of the hands-on activities included milking a cow, harnessing a calf, sorting hogs, putting on safety equipment and feeling portions of the digestive system of a cow and seeing how it relates to the digestive system of a human.

“They really seemed to be having a great time, especially when milking the cow,” said Ryan Risdal, sophomore in agricultural studies. “There have been lots of questions that we have been more than happy to answer, plus, many `wows’, `ooohhs’ and `aahhs’.”

One fourth-grader, Alicia Stone, agreed that her favorite part of the day was her interaction with the cows. “My favorite part was milking the cows and then we got to touch them,” she said.

Classmate Meesha Knowles agreed with Stone, but said her favorite part was not just limited to milking the cows.

“I thought that we would learn about cows and that’s it, but we’ve also learned about machines and stuff,” she said.

The students learned about many areas and one student said learning about all of these things was the best for her.

“Learning about stuff that I didn’t know before was my favorite part,” Morgan Flack said.

Each semester, students in Agricultural Education 315 class develop, plan and perform a new service leadership project in their surrounding community.

“I want the students to learn about leadership through service,” said Agricultural Education 315 instructor Cary Trexler. “I could lecture about leadership until I am blue in the face, but to experience it they can take it to heart and see it in a practical way.”

The class learned valuable lessons through all of their planning and organizing, especially when there were bumps along the way, said Trexler, assistant professor of agricultural education and studies.

“I could lecture all I want on the importance of communication, but they don’t actually see the importance of it until it breaks down,” he said.

The class broke up into groups, with each one being responsible for a portion of the day’s events. One group was responsible for fund raising while each of the other groups took on the task of developing sections of the day that the students could learn from.

“We want the kids to learn that agriculture and farming is more than just production,” said Michael Huston, sophomore in agricultural education. “We want them to come away from here knowing where food comes from and what farmers do.”

Fellow classmate Brad Bellamy agreed with Huston. “We just want them to learn about the farm and everyday farm life that they can relate to,” said Bellamy, junior in agricultural studies.

The student organizers said they have also learned from the event.

“We have learned teamwork skills and better communication,” Huston said.