We Survived 2,166 Miles in 10 days!

 The planning for this trip began shortly after the 2024 Summer Ag Tour and continued throughout the year to end with our final destinations confirmed. We hope you will read through all the blogs to learn more about our adventures.

  

We began flying to Omaha on June 3rd and visiting Robber's Cave. 

Day 2 took us to the University of Nebraska Lincoln's Food Science and Entomology departments. After lunch the Larsen Tractor Museum and Test Lab was the next stop. Of course, we couldn't miss out on visiting the UNL Dairy Store for some ice cream! 

Visiting the Nebraska Innovation Campus on Day 3 was a very interesting stop. We then traveled to Broken Arrow, Nebraska to visit Straight Arrow Bison Ranch. 

Day 4 took us to Mount Rushmore National Memorial  to learn more about the history behind the faces. Unfortunately, we had a flat tire and missed out on visiting Neiman Enterprises. We were able to visit the first National Monument, Devil's Tower. 

Between stop activities!

As we traveled into South Dakota, Day 5, we stopped at the DC Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery in Spearfish, SD. If you watch the Magnolia Network on TV, there is a show called "Building Outside the Lines". We spent a few hours visiting with "Cappie", the host of the show and looking at some of his creations. Leaving Spearfish, we went to Bell Fourche High School where we were able to learn more about their ag program and visit with some of their students. They told us about a place in town we should stop at, the geographical center of the US.

 On Day 6 we traveled to North Dakota and learned about wool and sheep at Friesz Family Livestock and visiting Cows and Co Creamery for some delicious gelato! 

Learning new technology from 701X was the start of Day 7. We spent the afternoon at North Dakota State University. 

Day 8 took us to Ag Week to learn more about the communications side of the ag industry. After that we visited Frolek Farms where we were able to see a variety of vegetables being grown using different methods of cultivation. 

Up early and out late!

Visiting the South Dakota State University Dairy Plant on Day 9 gave us some hands on experience in the food science field as well as learning about the making of ice cream. And of course, we had to eat some! 

Our final day, Day 10, we started at 605 Sires and had our last tour at Lincoln Premium Poultry before headed back to the airport to head home. 

Day 10: 605 Sires by: Khloe

 Today's Sponsor: Hillsborough County Cattlewomen

Today we went to one of the last stops of our 10-day trip, 605 Sires. They mainly work on the beef side of the livestock industry that works with semen collection and also does IVF on donor cows. They have multiple tanks that they store their semen in, and each tank holds about 70,000 straws of semen each, which means that they could possibly hold about half a million straws of semen in one building. To ship semen out of state or out of country you must be specially certified to ship it out. They house some donor cows at the facility so that way they can sell embryos along with the semen, and they collect embryos from the donor cows every two weeks. Once they breed the cows they wait seven days to flush the embryos and store them in a freezer and then on day eight, they take the embryos and either keep them in the freezer or transplant them into the cow(s) that they are needed in.

One of their semen storage tanks.

They usually collect semen every day. Their peak season for collections is February to about June 1^st. They also use smaller tanks when transferring the semen from place to place and those tanks usually hold about 280 straws of semen each. The smaller the tank the shorter the semen will stay frozen which means you have to refill it more often than you would a bigger tank and the big tanks they use for transportation hold about 3,000 straws each.

Mr. Cory Schrag, the owner of 605 Sires, explained the multiple parts of the business. In Vitro Fertilization, Embryo Transfer, Semen Collection, Sexing Semen, Housing bulls and donor cows.

  

I enjoyed this stop to see the process that could be used on my own beef animals back home.

Day 5: Bell Fourche High School by: Madi

 The Belle Fourche agriculture program is an active and hands-on educational experience in a rural, rodeo-centered community. Students engage in a variety of activities including wood shop, small engine repair (as a one semester course), and building structures. The program has five simulators (acting as larger equipment), including two specifically for CDL training, and students are taught CDL testing directly. The CTE building was built in 2008, the program benefits from strong industry partnerships, Perkins funding, and a workforce grant that help support its operations and provide real world learning opportunities. 

With around 400 students participating, the school has seven class periods and operates across two buildings. The advisor, who has led the program for eight years, plays an important role in guiding students through various district level opportunities, such as district greenhand selection and contests, eliminating the need for prelims. Unlike in Florida and other states there is a preliminary test that needs to be taken before moving on to district level. The program includes everyone by not requiring FFA dues and encourages students to fundraise for national competitions. Tied closely to the community through events like the small county fair, Belle Fourche’s ag program offers both practical skills and personal growth in a supportive and opportunity rich environment.

Mr. Bishop had a few of his officers come to visit with us. It was nice to get to talk with them and see how things are done in their chapter. For example: they don't have livestock at their school. Some members may have animals but they are kept at their homes. As officers, they plan activities as a team and carry them out. We appreciate them spending time with us. 

Day 5: Building Outside the Lines by: Ethan

 Today we went and visited with “Cappie” at his beautiful place. A little backstory on who Cappie is; he has a TV show called “Building Outside the Lines”. Cappie and his daughter Alex(also called Sprout on the tv show) go out to places in their community with their creative minds and create things people would never think of. Anything from more primitive type houses to a pool made from a shipping container. He has a team alongside him and Sprout helping make these things happen. I have watched his show prior to this trip and was very excited when I heard we were visiting him. The show airs on the Magnolia Network. You can also see some of his creations here.

When we first got to his place we had to wait a minute before he got there but when he got there he invited us over to sit down and we started talking. We talked about where we were from and we talked about agriculture and how different it is. Then he answered some questions that some of us had. Some questions were like what got him started, what was his first project, and what is his background. Interestingly, Cappie was in the military, has traveled to all 50 states and over 40 different countries. 

First he took us over to Sprouts treehouse that they built together. The treehouse was a cement mixer barrel stood up straight on top of a piece of a crane arm that was concreted down 10 ft. There is a sky light in the roof and LED lights. After that, he took us over to one of his Airbnb’s that was fully self sustained. It was made out of local wood like pine and a clay mixture. The insulation was straw from straw bales and insulated very well. The house has solar panels on the roof that provide a sufficient amount of energy for the house. 

After we got done in the house we went back over and talked more about what Florida is like. We shared so many funny stories and facts. Earlier in the day, Mrs. Hamilton gave everyone a slip of paper with a fact about Florida Agriculture on it. Anything from how cotton is grown in North Florida and is the country’s leader in non-edible crops. All the way to Hillsborough County being the winter strawberry capital of the world. We brought Cappie some Florida- related things that matched the facts we shared with him. One of the items was a strawberry cookbook that we all signed. 

All together this was a great stop and a very memorable one. We learned some very cool things like how he built certain things. We all had a great time and I think he enjoyed having us as well. Thank you Cappie for having us! This was my favorite stop for sure!

Day 5: DC Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery by: Lauren

 Mr. Doyle Carlton III

Today's Sponsor

For our first stop on day 5, we visited the DC Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery! The historic site has a hatchery building dating all the way back to 1899 , with the historic house being constructed in 1905. The fish hatchery was public access, and many of us started by purchasing a bag of fish food to feed one of the varieties of trout in the ponds around. Brown, Rainbow, and Snake River Cutthroat trout were the common varieties, with different colors and sizes being around. The site is maintained by US Fish and Wildlife services, the National Fish and Aquatic Conservation Archives, and the Booth Society Inc.  

   Fingerlings are transferred to the ponds where we fed at the start of every spring, until they reach a watchable size of 8-10 inches and are sent elsewhere, such as the Black Hills. There also was a very interesting underground viewing room with windows backing into the pond where we could view the fishes’ natural underwater behaviors. The historic fish raceways, (long narrow manmade underground tanks) still had some fingerling size fish be grown in them! Unfortunately, the historic hatchery and museum was closed for renovations. The Yellowstone boat, constructed in the 20s, and retired in 1996, was part of a fleet of fish rescue boats for operations on the great lakes. The purpose was to save fish stranded by receding flood waters, based out of the Homer National Fish Hatchery in Minnesota. 3-4 crewmembers stayed on the ship for maintenance at all times. Beginning in 1901 Mr. Booth traveled personally on the boats on the lake of Yellowstone to collect trout eggs to be spawned and hatched at the Bozeman, Leadville, and Homer hatcheries.  

   In 1871, The first national conservation agency started, in large parts due to Spencer Fullerton Biaird, a scientist and assistant secretary at the Smithsonian. The establishment of the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries was widely thought of as a fix to all fish problems, and was very positively received by the public. They also played a part in fish distribution even beyond the United States. The Fish Hatcheries became even more important during world war two, with equipment being reutilized and fish feeding soldiers away at war. Today however, fish hatcheries preserve genes, help protect endangered species, help Native tribes that rely on fish, stock fish in depleted habitats, and help with educational outreach. Most Hatcheries nowadays, help support other species, even indirectly through fish placement, or controlling invasive breeds. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Fish and Aquatic Conservation Program consists of approximately 70 National Fish Hatcheries, 7 Fish Technology Centers, 9 Flash Health Centers, 64 Fish and Wildlife Conservation Offices, and 1 Historic National Fish Hatchery & Archives. We then visited a historic train car replica. It’s a replica of fish car #3 after the railcars were  destroyed or repurposed during ww2. Federal fish cars began usage in the late 1890s. All originals were destroyed by the 1990s. A fish car was used to transport fish cross-country. The railroad car was designed to transport 20000 lbs. fish, water, and equipment every trip. The U.S. fish commission operated 10 cars, however some states operated private cars of their own design. A train car typically was designed with the most modern technology available, and only suffered around a 1% loss with 10 day trips, incredible at the time. The crew consisted of 5 members, including a captain, a chef, and 3 crew members, who often delivered fish to people along the trains path that requested. Fish were hauled in milk then fearnow pails, whilst surrounded by ice. Modern practices were used, such as oxygen lines, and lack of feeding before shipping to prevent frequent water changes. Crew slept in pullout on the train, or camped near-by if the whole train stopped. Our final stop was the DC Booth house. The DC Booth house was actually government built and maintained, and was lived in by every superintendent of the fishery through 1983. Mr. Booth and his family however, were the first family to occupy the house. Built in 1905, it was in fact ahead of its time. It was built at the cost of $5000 at the time. The House was unique in having central heat, electricity, plumbing, and running water. The Tennant or current superintendent, was charged for electricity, and rent. Mr. Booth was appointed in superintendent in 1899. The front door on the building was still original, even if many things on the house have been recreated, with even the wallpaper being replaced. The House has a fireplace, replacing a pantry. The House had much larger than normal windows for the time, and the technology not being advanced enough resulted in a slight warp. Several Booth family heirlooms were on display, giving an idea of the time period. The two-story House had a basement, or root cellar, and an attic, that had been converted to a private office or library. The cellar would typically have had an earthen floor at the time, however Mr. Booth hand poured a cement floor. Both their children had their own room, and the original wiring was on display. The House also had a outside sleeping deck for hot weather, and used the nearby ice House to retrieve ice for the refrigerator. Another unique feature was the  closets, which were super unheard of at the time. We finished up our time by looking at the Mrs. Booth gardens behind the house. 

Day 4: Mount Rushmore National Memorial by Ava

Hillsborough County Cattlewomen

Today's Sponsor

 

Today we had the opportunity to explore Mount Rushmore. Upon arrival, there were multiple stations to find information about the monument and memorial, including the main Visitor center at the entrance, The Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center, and the theaters. Additionally, on the way down the central walkway to the platform with the direct view across from Mount Rushmore, there is a walkway lined with all 50 state flags. Also, down the walkway, visitors can find the alphabetized wall of the approximately 400 people that worked on Rushmore-from 1927 to 1941. As we continued to look around, we also found the portrait sculpture of Gutzon Borglum, the primary sculptor of Mount Rushmore; the sculpture was created by his son: Lincoln Borglum, who was also a sculptor and responsible for the completion of Mount Rushmore after his father’s passing. When we later made it over to the main platform, to the left and right, there were two large, engraved panels of granite - known as the Grand Terrace Donor Wall - in which the many donors of Mount Rushmore are listed. From that point, we were able to take many pictures in front of the monument before heading downstairs to the theater room and informational center/museum.

In the downstairs area, there were multiple theaters with scheduled screenings of an explanatory film of Mount Rushmore history. In a nearby room, there were many pictures of the planning and constructing processes of the monument, as well as physical artifacts- including early replicas of clay models that Gutzon Borglum used to work out the concept of the presidents’ faces and various tools the workers used during the construction period. While I was in the room of Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center, there was also a video playing, which described some of the building process, where I learned that a tool called a pointing system was used to precisely  translate the 3-D clay samples of the presidents’ faces-which served as 1/12th scale references to what the final product would be to the side of the mountain. In the clay formatting stage, the style and position of the profiles were changed thousands of times before being put into stone. During the translating while using the pointing system, a bar was extended over the presidents’ clay faces from the top of their heads to get precise measurements for the application to the mountain.

This incredibly tedious and large-scale task took 14 years to get the presidents’ 60 ft. profiles formatted into the Black Hills of South Dakota. Another part of what added time to this project is that workers had to be strategic to not remove too much rock from the mountain, as one of the most significant challenges is that more rock could always be removed, but not added back. In relation to rock removal, much was being removed at a time due to the usage of dynamite-to which Borglum didn’t want to use originally, but found no other way after finding the drilling process to take too long. In the end, there are now 422 steps on Mount Rushmore.

Overall, the significance of the Mount Rushmore stands as a representation of some of the most significant aspects of development and the core values of the United States of America as a whole. The presidents were selectively chosen as: George Washington for the birth of Republic and the fight for independence, Thomas Jefferson for the expansion of United States territory, Abraham Lincoln for unity of the states and equality for all citizens, and Theodore Roosevelt for standing for the common man as well as handling 20th century world affairs. 

Another portion of the visit was that I spoke to a park ranger at Mount Rushmore named Marie, who was kind enough to share some fun facts about the monument. Included, was that Thomas Jefferson was originally intended to be added to the opposite of Washington (in relation to where he is positioned now), but as he was being constructed, workers realized that the rock that was to be turned into Jefferson’s face was unsuitable, so they had to get rid of his face all together-moving it to the other side of Washington. Additionally, I learned that the stripe on Jefferson’s lip is where his nose would’ve been, but upon finding that it’d be unstable-possibly causing the nose to completely fall of in the next 5,000 years after construction-they changed his view upward.