Calendar
Upcoming Events:
- Saturday, April 21st, 9:00am to 4:00pm
9:00am - 11:30am - Block and Bridle's Barnyard Fun Day at the Livestock Pavilion on Cornell's Campus.
We invite all youngsters to attend and to bring their whole families to spend a fun-filled morning learning about farm animals!
Demonstrations and Activities Include:
• A petting zoo filled with baby animals (Piglets, lambs, calves and chicks)
• A chance to see what’s inside a cow’s stomach
• Learning how to make butter
• Learning how to card wool
• A chance to lead a goat through an obstacle course
• Face Painting
• Potato Sack races
• Stick Pony Rodeo
Each child will receive a folder full of animal-related educational information.
In addition, we will have animals representing each of the six livestock show species (horses, dairy and beef cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats) so that everyone will get a chance to meet their favorite animal.12:30pm - 4pm - a real livestock show for participating Cornell students will be held in the same place — spectators are welcome.
The show order will be as follows:
12:30 - Horses (double ring)
1:00 - Beef (large ring)
1:30 - Pigs (small ring)
2:00 - faculty pig obstacle course
2:30 - Goats (large ring)
3:00 - Sheep (small ring)
3:30 - Dairy (large ring) - Monday, April 2nd at 5pm in Morrison 334, and Tuesday, April 3rd at 5pm in Morrison 334.
We will be having two meetings to prepare for the student livestock show! You only need to attend one! Dr. Pavek will be giving a CARE presentation, and you will get to choose what animal you want to show! By this time all of the species (beef heifers, dairy heifers, horses, pigs, goats, and sheep) will be on campus, so you can meet them! Attending a CARE presentation is mandatory for participation in the student livestock show.
At the meeting you will also sign up for chore times, and you can order t-shirts for show day! (Please bring money if you plan on ordering a t-shirt.) There is a $5 shower's fee, which covers thank-yous for judges, pizza on show day, and animal supplies. We will also go over chores, and you will meet your species chair, who will later show you how to care for, groom, and show your animal.
Contact Sarah Carpenter (sec234@cornell.edu) for more information.At the end of Monday's meeting, we will be stuffing and addressing envelopes to send them to local schools to invite them to Barnyard fun day!
Note: You can also just volunteer at Barnyard Fun Day, but we would still like you to attend a CARE presentation.
Species Chairs:
If you have any showing experience and would like to help out or become a species chair please let e-mail Lyssa LaCount (lml98@cornell.edu) with your name, the species you have experience with, and a brief description of what experience you have! - Thursday, February 9th, at 5pm, in Morrison 342: First meeting of the semester! We will be discussing upcoming events for the semester, including the student livestock show!
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Tuesday, February 14th: Valentine’s Day Bake Sale:
We will be holding a Valentine’s Day Bake Sale in the Morrison Lobby on Tuesday, February 14th from 8am – 5pm. We will provide Coffee, Tea, Hot Chocolate, and homemade baked goods.
See 2/9 meeting minutes for more details. - Saturday, March 10th: Farm Tour:
There will be a farm tour on Saturday, March 10th from 12:00pm to around 2:00pm. It will be at Scheffler Farm, an organic beef, dairy, and egg farm located in Groton, NY. They use direct marketing to sell their products. Lyssa met the owners of the farm at the Lansing Farmer's Market. They will mostly be talking to us about production, but feel free to ask questions!Scheffler Farm is approximately 1/2 hour from Ithaca. Pickup times will be:
11:00 - Collegetown (CTB)
11:10 - West (Baker Flagpole)
11:20 - North Campus (Donlon Circle)Please sign up on the link below:
Sign up here for the Farm Tour.Lunch will be provided! They are providing a light lunch (including grilled hotdogs) around noon. After that, we will tour the farm.
They have a farm store at the farm, at which they have certified organic eggs and beef, 1# ground beef, hotdogs, patties, italian sausage, stew, soup bones, minute steaks, steaks, briskets, and roasts. (So if you want to buy something from the farm, don't forget to bring money! (Lyssa checked, and they accept cash, checks, or credit cards.))
We have plastic boot covers available.
- Saturday, April 21st:
- Barnyard Fun Day:
- Barnyard Fun Day will be held the morning of Saturday, April 21st, 2011, prior to the livestock show. This is a great opportunity to teach local youth about animals and agriculture. More information will be provided closer to the day of the show, but if you have any ideas for Barnyard Fun Day, or would like to form or be a member of a Barnyard Fun Day committee, please contact Sarah Carpenter (sec234@cornell.edu). (Last year’s activities included wool carding, butter making, meeting the fistulated cow, a petting zoo, a goat obstacle course, a stick pony race, a sack race, and animal mask making. Each child also receives an informational packet. Last year we had over 100 kids in attendance.) We will have an envelope-stuffing meeting after spring break to invite everyone. - Student Livestock Show:
- The Student Livestock Show will be held on Saturday, April 21st, 2011. The Student Livestock Show is Block and Bridle’s main event. On March 30th, dairy cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and horses are brought to campus. Beef cattle are already on campus. Club members and any interested members of the Cornell community choose an animal that they would like to show. Under the supervision of a Species Chair, showers learn how to take care of, groom, and train their species of choice. At the end of those weeks guest judges come to Cornell campus, and we hold the Student Livestock Show! This is a great way to gain animal experience, and to share what you know.
We will have mandatory meetings for students planning to show animals right after spring break. At these meetings, students will listen to a CARE presentation about how to safely work with animals, choose a species to show, and sign up for farm chores. The species options are pigs, sheep, goats, horses, beef cows, or dairy heifers. A practice show will be held the evening of Friday, April 20th, 2011. More information about the show will be provided closer to the show date.
See 2/9 meeting minutes for more details.
- Barnyard Fun Day:
Past Events:
- Wednesday, August 31st at 5:30pm in 146 Morrison: First meeting! We will be going over planned activities for this semester, as well as gauging new club member's interests at the meeting. Many of our activities this year (farm tours, guest speakers, etc.) will be based on the interests that club members put forth at the first meeting, so be sure to stop by!
- Saturday September 3rd: Trip to the NY State Fair, departing campus at 10:00am: The cost of the trip is $5.00 to cover transportation and parking, and the additional cost of a fair ticket (around $10.00), which each person will purchase at the gate. If you would like to attend please bring $5.00 to the first meeting to save your spot. We will be filling spots on a first come, first served basis as there will be a limited number of spots based on driver availability. If you have a car and would be willing to drive, please email Katie Stayton (kms289) before the meeting and let me know how many you can fit. You will be reimbursed for gas and parking.
- Saturday, October 15th: Apple Picking Trip. Meeting time and location to be announced. Get to know the officers and each other better with a trip to a local orchard!
- Sunday, October 30th, 1-3 pm: Kingbird Farm Tour
Kingbird Farm is a small, horse-powered, organic family farm, located in Berkshire, NY. They produce organic poultry, pork, eggs, vegetables, herbs, and grass fed beef. We met Karma from Kingbird Farm at the Ithaca Meat Fair last year. She was very enthusiastic and gave a great chicken processing demonstration, so we are very excited to have the opportunity to visit this farm. I have also heard from students in the Sustainable Agriculture course that they had a great time on their tour of this farm!
They have a website, here: http://www.kingbirdfarm.com/
If you would like to attend the Kingbird Farm Tour, please sign up on the google document below:
Pickup times will be:
11:50 Collegetown (CTB)
12:00 West Campus (Baker Flagpole)
12:10 North Campus (Donlon Circle)
We will provide plastic boot covers.
If for some reason you cannot make it, please let us know!
- Monday, October 31st: Halloween Bake Sale Sale in the Morrison Lobby.
Bake sales fund events such as farm tours, gas for travel, the student livestock show, and equipment that is not funded by the SAFC.
If you are wiling to provided baked goods for the bake sale, please sign up here:
Baked goods must be individually wrapped, and the ingredients list must be given to us so that we can post it at the table.
If you are willing to help sell baked goods in Morrison, please sign up here:
There is a facebook event here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=172544349499116
Please invite your friends!
- Tuesday, November 1st at 5:00pmGuest speaker - We will have a meeting with Dr. Baker as a guest speaker on in Morrison Hall, room 163. He will be talking about cattle handling and cattle behavior.
Dr. Baker works in the Animal Science Department's Beef Cattle Extension. You can find some information about his work here:
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/beef/
This will be a great link to halterbreaking! We halterbreak beef cattle to prepare them for the livestock show, so that they are used to wearing halters, being tied up, and being led around. We are waiting to hear when the beef cattle are brought in off pasture, and we will most likely begin halterbreaking beef heifers towards the end of this semester.
Since Dr. Baker is taking the time to talk to us, please make every effort to attend! Pizza and refreshments will be provided!
After the meeting, there will be time to talk to the officers and each other and to discuss upcoming events, so we can get to know you better! If you have not submitted your semester dues or national dues, please bring them to the meeting.There is a facebook event for the meeting here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=308230355858007
Feel free to invite your friends!
- Saturday, November 19th: Fingerlakes Cheese Trail trip. Meeting time and location to be announced. Sample cheese from local farms!