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Beef Education and Curriculum

Committee discusses resources for cattlewomen to use to promote beef education.

by Kasey Miller, associate editor

 

TAMPA, Fla. (Feb. 5, 2013) — The American National CattleWomen Inc. (ANCW) Beef Education and Curriculum Committee offers ways to reach out to teachers to educate children about beef during their formative years. Rebecca Been and Barbara Jacques led the committee's breakout session Feb. 5, preceding the Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show in Tampa, Fla., in which they highlighted many of the resources being developed by the committee.

 

The committee is developing a classroom-reading toolkit, said Been, which will give other cattlewomen resources to coordinate reading time with their local schools. The toolkit contains about 150 agricultural books on its list, with highlighted cattlewomen favorites. It also includes letters to send to the teacher before and after the reading event, along with follow-up questions for the students.

 

Toolkits on the drawing board include branding/cowboy tools, cowboy/ranch days either for the classroom or on a ranch, and nutrition.

 

The committee is also launching an email newsletter program, Been explained. A newsletter will be sent three times a year to members and a compiled list of teachers. Each newsletter will feature a region or state and its typical production practices, a read-aloud book, an agricultural lesson plan, other resources and a recipe. Been said resources are linked to California teaching standards. State standards differ, she noted, but at least it adheres to a baseline of set standards.

 

Bea Jai Merriman explained the potential of creating an ANCW certification program for youth in high school, much like the Masters of Beef Advocacy (MBA) program. This would involve cattlewomen presenting one to two hours of material at a high school level, covering subjects such as animal care and well-being, nutrition, different segments of the industry, responding to anti-ag activists and more. The idea will be brought to the ANCW Executive Committee.

 

Jacques explained that work is continuing to contact textbook and curriculum writers. The Earth Day toolkit uses the www.explorebeef.org Cow Chow video and games to reach all ages. The toolkit is so simple, she said, that teachers could use it on their own if a cattlewoman couldn’t come into the classroom. The goal is for each state to get 25 teachers to use the Earth Day toolkit.

 

For more information about the ANCW and its programs, visit www.ancw.org.