You have to love Illinois weather. It was 50 degrees last week then barely made it out of the teens. In the last week, we’ve seen sun, snow, extreme wind, cold, and later this week perhaps lightning and thunderstorms?
Of course it was only 5 months ago that we recorded record heat in the state. Makes you stop and wonder–if it is hard on people being outside in both extremes–what does it mean for livestock?
In the latest Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom Ag Mag– LIVESTOCK–we address the issues of how Illinois Farmers take care of their animals. Bob Ebbesmeyer, DVM discusses on the front page how farmers work to keep their animals clean, dry and comfortable. This is followed up with farmers who specialize in raising beef cattle, dairy cattle, pigs, chickens and horses. There is a common theme that we saw interviewing all of these farmers. It isn’t rocket science, but they all care deeply about their animals. The animals are more than their livelihood. The care that farmers we feature in our Ag Mag is typical of those farmers across the state.
In addition to housing and physical care for animals, our new Ag Mag also features the care that goes into animal nutrition. We worked with Tom Deters of Effingham-Clay FS Total Livestock Services to talk about Animal Nutrition.
What he shared amazes teachers that we work with. They are shocked to find out how animal diets and rations are properly balanced, designed to provide the optimum diet for each animal. Animal nutrition is a key to growth and good health, providing healthier, safer food for grocery shoppers, as well as promoting health, safety and well-being of animals.
The Illinois Corn Marketing Board is a sponsor of our latest Ag Mag, now available in print. It will be available on our website as an interactive on-line resource shortly. We are proud of our collaboration with Illinois Corn, and our teacher audience learns more about the feed produced by Illinois corn farmers. One thing teachers realize is that even if a farmer doesn’t have livestock–they are an important part of the food system for the livestock.
Thanks to Illinois Corn Farmers for not only producing the great product that you do—but for also helping educate teachers and students about what your Corn does!
Kevin Daugherty
Education Director
Illinois Ag in the Classroom
