In this modern day world in Michigan’s Great Southwest there is science…and there is agriculture…and then there is agricultural science, blending the two to keep the world fed and cared for. Thanks to Southwestern Michigan College’s Educational Talent Search a first-ever Agricultural Science Camp has debuted and was launched with a field trip to Vandalia’s Bullseye Marketplace — a 1,600-acre dairy farm in Cassopolis.
That field trip delivered fourteen area middle-schoolers aboard a Lewis Cass Intermediate School District bus to Sparks Cedarlee Farm where most of the 557 calves were born in March and April, the most recent arriving on the 4th of July.
The students learned about grass-fed longhorn beef and custom butchering, and explored Newton Woods.
At Sparks Cedarlee Farm they were met by Ken & Kristen Sparks. Three college-age young women spend four hours milking 125 cows per hour, with shifts starting at 6am and 4pm. They wipe udders with foam to control mastitis inflammation.
Sparks says, “It’s eight to nine gallons per cow per day, and we milk 500 twice a day. With calves, cows, bulls and steers it’s around 1,300.”
Sparks, who “came back to the farm” in 2011, leads visitors to the milk room, where two 3,000-gallon tanks are partially enclosed.
Milk is trucked to the Michigan Milk Producers Association’s (MPPA) Constantine processing plant to become cheese or butter. There is also a plant in Ovid. MMPA also owns a cheese plant in Middlebury, Indiana. These plants employ approximately 200 people and process up to 7.4 million pounds of milk every day.
Sparks tells us, “We’re two years into a three-year process of being certified organic.”
Newton Woods is part of the 939-acre Fred Russ Forest, where researchers study Christmas tree seed production and other projects aimed at preserving the diversity and abundance of Michigan forests.
Forest products and Christmas trees are among the top 20 Michigan agricultural products.
The forest features a 14-acre roadside park with picnic shelters and a playground leased to the Cass County Parks Department along Dowagiac Creek in Volinia Township that is open to the public for hiking, biking, fishing, cross-country skiing and horseback riding.
Established in 1942, Fred Russ Forest offers Spartan Pure Maple Syrup as part of a research effort in best practices for high-vacuum sap extraction.
The trunk of Michigan’s largest tulip poplar, which stood 180 feet tall and reached more than 300 years old before toppling, remains on display.
Newton Woods, which is located eight miles east of Dowagiac near the intersection of Marcellus Highway and Decatur Road, was listed in 1976 by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a National Natural Landmark.
Stacey Rocklin is Southwestern Michigan College coordinator for the MSU Institute of Agricultural Technology. She says, “An important part of agriculture is how we protect the environment.” She adds, “The dairy farm had a MAEAP-certified sign.”
The Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program is a pro-active program helping farms of all sizes and all commodities voluntarily prevent or minimize agricultural pollution risks.
MAEAP’s mission is to develop and implement environmental assurance programs that ensure Michigan farmers engage in cost-effective prevention practices and work to comply with state and federal environmental regulations.
Rocklin says, “Certain practices they do that we don’t notice certify the farm as environmentally friendly,” adding, “such as manure not running off into streams. Every state has their own version.”
Reuben, Three Rivers’ 24-year-old meat manager, guides the tour through the White Temple Road Bullseye, which he joined in 2013.
He explains, “Custom butchering means we don’t own animals.” He reports, “We take other people’s animals and process them. I started butchering when I was 20. A 70-year-old man taught me everything he knew. I also did online classes.”
Reuben showed the cooler hung with halves of beef and the smoker drying 30 pork bellies in a six-hour process that includes a bacon salt dry rub and hickory smoke for flavor and color.
They peek through a window into the room where pork chops are being cut and sausage is being made.
Additional activities today and tomorrow will center around SMC nature trails, composting, the greenhouse, a trip to Berrien Springs to Andrews University and Apple Valley and a garden-party finale.
The Educational Talent Search is directed by Kim Luthringer, assisted by Maria Kulka and Jewel Jones. It is one of eight federal TRiO programs.
The program operates year-round for 700 Brandywine, Cassopolis, Dowagiac, Edwardsburg and Marcellus sixth-12th graders, helping to develop good study habits and furnishing career, post-secondary education and financial aid information.
