Morton County Ag Day - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

The Morton County Ag Day is the largest living ag classroom in the state.

With the help of countless volunteers--bunnies, baby chicks and calves--are teaching the lesson of agriculture to all ages.

Ag Reporter Sarah Gustin has the story.

There's a lot of pieces that make up the story of agriculture.

Today thousands of people are in Mandan getting an up close look animals and grains that make up our state's number one industry.

(Nathan Boehm / Morton Co. Farm Bureau) We are doing it to get these young kids, pre-school kids, kindergarten kids, to know where there milk, eggs, clothing with the sheep and the wool comes from. It's not coming from the store, it's coming the farm. And a guy that actually sits out there and his life work to be producing and supplying materials, just let them know a little bit more about agriculture and hopefully keep everyone a little more tied into what we do.

The Morton County Farm Bureau has been hosting this living ag classroom for nearly 40 years.

Organizer Nathan Boehm says they expect 4-thousand people to walk through the doors--3500 of which are kids.

(Nathan Boehm / Morton Co. Farm Bureau) "Every daycare, every pre-school that's in Bismarck-Mandan shows up. And we have had them here as far as Wing, New Salem, Steele that circling area. Anybody pretty much shows up. We have even had people from Pennsylvania and Texas here that just stop in."

All stopping in to learn a lesson some teachers says can't be taught in a classroom.

(Tammy Goehring / Rita Murphy Kindergarten) "They really enjoy it. I love it. I have horses and sheep occasionally, I just love for them to be able to come and experience all of that farm stuff."

(Sarah Gustin / sgustin@kxnet.com) "Learning that cows like Chanda can produce nearly 3200 pounds of milk are just some of the fun facts that kids learn at Ag Day."

(Brenda Tangedahl / Rita Murphy Kindergarten Teacher) "Because of the North Dakota products and the animals that we raise in North Dakota. And like one of my kids said today, "oh can I go pet the ostrich and it was a llama. They need that experience because we aren't rural anymore. A lot of the kids never leave town." 

Not only is it a learning lesson, but kids are discovering which animals they like best.

"A cat because they are so small! I like the horse. Why do you like the horse? Because he is eating! Puppies!"

Boehm says the baby chicks are always a hit.

Second graders also had a chance to compete in a coloring contest.

The winners received groceries and North Dakota products as prizes.