![\"FAD](\"http:\/\/www.cals.ncsu.edu\/agcomm\/news-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/FAD-Twins.jpg\")
<\/a>A longtime spring tradition at NC State University\u2019s Beef Education Unit, Farm Animal Days lets area children experience agriculture up close and hands on.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s more than just a fun day at the farm. Experts from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are on hand to give presentations and answer questions. Field days are important because agriculture is crucial to the North Carolina economy, said Animal Science Department Head Todd See \u2013 and more than two-thirds of that contribution\u00a0is generated by farm animals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we try to do is give everybody in Raleigh and the surrounding areas an opportunity to come out and learn about [these animals]\u2026and how they are important in their everyday lives,\u201d See said.<\/p>\n
Parent Shenice Patton brought her son and one of his friends to the event to teach them about how the food on their dinner plate gets there every night.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted my children to have\u2026the experience of seeing things up close instead of in a book, of being able to touch and feel,\u201d Patton said.<\/p>\n The event is organized and run by faculty and students from multiple departments, mainly Animal Science and Poultry Science. Junior poultry science major Emily Povazsay helped run the feed booth on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI think [the children] are\u00a0surprised at everything that goes into growing an animal,\u201d Povazsay said.<\/p>\n With most of the United States’ population at least two generations removed from farm work, Farm Animal Days provides a unique opportunity \u2013 and one that\u2019s fun to watch even if you work with livestock every day, said Billy Flowers, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Animal Science.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time I come out here and watch this, I\u2019m just amazed at how the people interact with the animals,\u201d Flowers said. \u201cMost people understand the animal-human bond because they have a cat or dog at home, but then they come out and see these large livestock\u2026it\u2019s the same kind of bond, and I think a lot of people have never experienced that.\u201d<\/p>\n — C. Kellner<\/em><\/p>\n This post was originally published<\/a> in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false,"raw":"When the trio of 5-year-old buddies -- two of them in full Batman costume -- took on Farm Animal Field Days on Wednesday, Michael, Karston and Emory agreed on two things:\r\n\r\nThat the best part was getting to pet the horses.\r\n\r\nAnd what horses feel like when you pet them.\r\n\r\n\u201cSoft blankets,\u201d Emory said, as the other two nodded and jumped up and down.\r\n\r\n NC State University’s annual Farm Animal Days lets area children experience agriculture up close and hands on with the guidance of CALS experts. Field days are important because agriculture is crucial to the North Carolina economy \u2013 and more than two-thirds of that contribution is generated by farm animals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"ncstate_wire","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nc-state"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":688,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/horticultural-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Cars and buses lined up on the gravel road 45 minutes before kickoff time on opening day this week, full of eager children and education-minded parents and teachers. By noon on the first day, about 2,000 people had already arrived.<\/p>\n<\/a>This year\u2019s event featured a more accessible layout, as well as the usual array of turkeys, chicks, goats, sheep, pigs, cows, calves, horses and a massive bull named Big T who inspired a moment of silent awe in many of the children who approached his pen.<\/p>\n<\/a>A longtime spring tradition at NC State University\u2019s Beef Education Unit, Farm Animal Days lets area children experience agriculture up close and hands on.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s more than just a fun day at the farm. Experts from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are on hand to give presentations and answer questions. Field days are important because agriculture is crucial to the North Carolina economy, said Animal Science Department Head Todd See \u2013 and more than two-thirds of that contribution\u00a0is generated by farm animals.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat we try to do is give everybody in Raleigh and the surrounding areas an opportunity to come out and learn about [these animals]\u2026and how they are important in their everyday lives,\u201d See said.\r\n\r\n<\/a>Cars and buses lined up on the gravel road 45 minutes before kickoff time on opening day this week, full of eager children and education-minded parents and teachers. By noon on the first day, about 2,000 people had already arrived.\r\n\r\nParent Shenice Patton brought her son and one of his friends to the event to teach them about how the food on their dinner plate gets there every night.\r\n\r\n\u201cI wanted my children to have\u2026the experience of seeing things up close instead of in a book, of being able to touch and feel,\u201d Patton said.\r\n\r\n<\/a>This year\u2019s event featured a more accessible layout, as well as the usual array of turkeys, chicks, goats, sheep, pigs, cows, calves, horses and a massive bull named Big T who inspired a moment of silent awe in many of the children who approached his pen.\r\n\r\nThe event is organized and run by faculty and students from multiple departments, mainly Animal Science and Poultry Science. Junior poultry science major Emily Povazsay helped run the feed booth on Wednesday.\r\n\r\n\u201cI think [the children] are\u00a0surprised at everything that goes into growing an animal,\u201d Povazsay said.\r\n\r\nWith most of the United States' population at least two generations removed from farm work, Farm Animal Days provides a unique opportunity \u2013 and one that\u2019s fun to watch even if you work with livestock every day, said Billy Flowers, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Animal Science.\r\n\r\n\u201cEvery time I come out here and watch this, I\u2019m just amazed at how the people interact with the animals,\u201d Flowers said. \u201cMost people understand the animal-human bond because they have a cat or dog at home, but then they come out and see these large livestock\u2026it\u2019s the same kind of bond, and I think a lot of people have never experienced that.\u201d\r\n\r\n-- C. Kellner<\/em>"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"