Soule: Calves And Campers Learn Together

Last Friday, nine teams and one camper led ten calves into the improvised show ring. Except for the single camper, one member of each team held the lead rope while the other camper walked behind, herding their calf around the ring. When the judge asked them, the campers told the audience of parents and friends about their calf's age, sex, breed, and even their temperature. The calves were calm, and the campers acted like they'd been showing calves their whole lives. Five days earlier was another story.

On the first day of last week’s summer day camp, nineteen kids between the ages of 8 and 14 descended on the farm. Most of them didn't know a lead rope from a clothesline. My job was to teach these young want-to-be-wranglers how to handle reluctant 150-pound calves who wanted only to get back to their moms.

Camper training started with a demonstration of how to "sit on the lead rope." I showed the campers how to bend at the knees, hold the lead line with their left hands, and put the lead under their butts with the other end with their right hands and sit on it. When done correctly, rope-sitting gives humans a superpower. I know. I've used it to control 800-pound cows.

At least two counselors were on duty during calf training to help keep everyone safe, but the camp wasn't about just calves. The kids rode horses Snap and Moose and Curious Bleu, our 10-year-old Scottish Highlander riding steer. Campers also learned how to feed the goats, the donkey, sheep, pigs, rabbits, and chickens and played in the sprinklers at the end of each day.

Our camp is a function of Learning Networks Foundation, which is the nonprofit aspect of Miles Smith Farm. And there's plenty of learning at both ends of the lead rope.

Read More

Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm in Loudon where she raises and sells beef, pork, lamb, eggs and other local products. She can be reached at carolesoule60@gmail.com.