Flat Aggie...

Sarah from The House That Ag Built is teaching her 1st grade students all about agriculture through a doll that they created named Flat Aggie.  She is based on the book Flat Stanley.

Flat Aggie came to visit us last week all the way from California!

B took her for a short ride on her 4-wheeler, but decided that Aggie should really have a helmet!

We started planting corn a day before Aggie's arrival, so we took her to the field to check out the planter.  Buckle up!... 

She was surprised to see that the corn wasn't yellow, but red.  We explained that that is because it is treated with special ingredients that taste and smell nasty to bugs so they won't eat all the seed... 

Next she got to check out some of the tractors... 

 and the sprayer.  We spray the weeds in our fields so they don't take all the water and nutrients away from the corn and soybeans...

Next up was a visit with the cattle.  We raise beef cattle which are very different from dairy.  Beef cattle produce meat.  Dairy cattle are raised primarily for milk...

These grain bins are where we store our grain before it is taken to the grain elevator where it is sold... 

 The big hay bales...

In the summer, when the corn is still green, we chop it and this is called silage.  We store the silage in these bags to be fed to the cattle throughout the year... 

This is called a silage mixer.  It mixes silage with ground corn, hay and supplements which makes a yummy mixture that the cattle love!... 

The cattle are given mineral blocks to lick which provides them with a ton of vitamins and minerals... 

We hope that Flat Aggie enjoyed her visit and that her class enjoys hearing all about our farm.  Maybe she will come back to visit us during harvest!