Range Cattle Research and Education Center “Ninth” Annual Youth Field Day

July, 2016
Sonja C. Crawford, UF/IFAS Hendry County Extension, LaBelle


On June 23, 2016, approximately 140 youth and parents joined the team of faculty and staff of the UF/IFAS Range Cattle Research and Education Center (RCREC) at Ona and Extension Agents of the UF/IFAS South Florida Beef-Forage Program (SFBFP) for the Ninth Annual Youth Field Day. The day was started with Center Director Dr. John Arthington welcoming the group with a brief introduction of the UF/IFAS Range Cattle Research and Education Center at Ona. The youth field day showcases the efforts of the research center while offering fun and educational activities for youth, parents, leaders, and advisors interested in agriculture.

Wagons shuttled attendees to five 30 minute “hands on” educational stations. The sessions were “Harmful Internal Microscopic Bugs” presented by Christy Walter along with “Shot Placement” presented by Sonja Crawford and Jonael Bosques, “Pasture Management & Rotational Grazing” presented by Chris Prevatt, Dr. Philipe Moriel and James McWhorter, “Livestock Handling” presented by Austin Bateman, Clay Newman and Ashley Fluke, and “Career Explorations with UF CALS” presented by the UF College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Ambassadors.

After the morning sessions, the attendees had the opportunity to visit the Expo located inside the Grazinglands Educational Building before and after lunch. The Expo consisted of colleges, research centers, agricultural businesses and civic organizations.

The Field Day was deemed a success. The Range Cattle REC and the South Florida Beef Forage Program extends a sincere thanks to Andrea Dunlap for organizing the event, the REC staff for making it all happen, as well as donors and supporters for their generous monetary and in-kind support.

RCREC Youth Field Day1 RCREC Youth Field Day1 RCREC Youth Field Day1
RCREC Youth Field Day1 RCREC Youth Field Day1 RCREC Youth Field Day1

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