Medford Cooperative donates feed for Medford School Barn

The Medford Cooperative and the Medford Area Public School District Agriculture Department have teamed up for another year of collaboration and support to feed the school animals! Medford Cooperative recently donated to the Agriculture Barn to cover feed expenses for 2023.

Without this generous donation, the Agriculture Barn project would have to budget or gather donations to cover feed expenses. At the facility both Lisa Kopp and Casey Anderson utilize a variety of species to educate students within their classroom curriculum. Yearly, the department raises 2 butcher steers, 1 Hereford resident cow “Journey” (who is due to calf March 10), 20 egg laying chickens, 3 rabbits, 3 turkeys, 3 market hogs per semester, as well as short term animals like sheep, goats, horses, llama, meat chickens, meat rabbits, and quail.

The facility educates grades 8th-12th grade through a diverse caseload of classes like: Ag8, Exploring Agri-Science, Companion Animal Science, Production Animal Science, Horticulture, Forestry, Fish and Wildlife, Agriculture Mechanics, Dairy Production (NTC Transcripted) and Veterinary Science (NTC Transcripted). In Fall of 2024 there will be 2 new classes - Animal Psychology and Training and Agricultural Leadership! Semesterly, Production Animal Science is graded upon helping with weekend and holiday break barn chores. Animals are either butchered or farmed out for the summer months of the year and brought back for fall. The department animals are donated or purchased locally.

According to DATCP Wisconsin Agriculture Statisticsin May 2023 there were 64,100 farms in Wisconsin. The 2007 USDA Census stated there were 78,463 WI farms. In 16 years, Wisconsin has lost 14,363. If our state continues farm loss at that same annual rate, Wisconsin would theoretically lose all farmers in approximately 71 years.

Now, we know that won’t and can’t happen, can it? This is the main purpose of the Medford Area Public School District Agriculture Barn- to educate the future generations of agriculturalists and help maintain or improve the agriculture job force.

“Without generous companies like Medford Cooperative, this public agricultural facility would not be able to offer as many opportunities to the youth. Thank you, Medford Cooperative, for your continued generous support towards the Medford Agriculture Department and Barn Facility,” said Lisa Kopp-Ag Teacher & FFA Advisor.