Granton FFA Students Discuss National FFA Week

Wednesday, February 24th, 2021 -- 11:00 AM

-It’s National FFA Week and FFA members at the Granton School District are celebrating with different activities.

I spoke with Granton’s Interim Administrator, James Kuchta, and two Granton FFA members, Anna Kayhart and Marshall Kleiman, and they discussed their connection with farming in Central Wisconsin and some activities they’re doing.

Mr. Kuchta:  “Traditionally, the last full week of February each year is National FFA Week.  As a former FFA Advisor and Ag Teacher, I always like to recognize that.  We have a couple of Granton students, FFA members, with us here.  First we have Anna Kayhart and we also have Marshall Kleiman.”

Anna:  “I live on a dairy farm outside of Granton.  And I’m involved in FFA and do the apple picking in the fall.”

Mr. Kuhta:  “And what grade are you in, Anna?”

Anna:  “I’m a Freshman.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “And Marshall?”

Marshall:  “I live on a dairy farm outside of Granton as well.  My proficiency under FFA is Dairy Production/Entrepreneurship.  Some things I do for FFA is I help with the Fall Festival every year.  And I’ve also gone to the FFA fire conference.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “And I know that FFA has many leadership activities and every FFA student is involved in Agriculture classes and also has a Supervised Agricultural Experience Program, or SAEP, and so the Ag Proficiency Award is being applied for by both of these students.  Anna, can you talk about your SAEP a little more?”

Anna:  “I’m doing Dairy Production Placement.  I work at my family’s dairy farm, so that’s where that comes from.  I help with the calves and I help milk cows too.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “What other activities do you do on your family’s farm?”

Anna:  “I help rake hay in the summertime and we do a lot of bailing.  We always need a lot of help with that.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Do you have brothers and sisters that help with that as well?”

Anna:  “I have three brothers.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Marshall tell us a little more about your dairy production.”

Marshall:  “I buy cattle and I raise them up and sell them.  I also keep some heifers around at my own farm just to raise and have in my own herd.  The majority of stuff that I do is raising heifers and selling them before they’re ready to calf.  Then I just keep cycling through different cattle.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Do you know how many head of cattle you own?”

Marshall:  “I own 15 of my own right now.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “You also work on a farm, so how many total head do you think you work with?”

Marshall:  “In total there’s probably close to 20.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Do you show animals?”

Marshall:  “I show registered milk and short-horned cattle at the Clark County Fair.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Have you won any ribbons or awards?”

Marshall:  “I won Reserve Junior Champion with one of my milking short-horned and I’ve never placed below a red ribbon with my short-horned cattle.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Anna, do you know what breed you have on the farm?”

Anna:  “We have mainly holsteins and a couple jersey crosses.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Holstein are the black and white cows and then the jersey cross are a little bit smaller than the holsteins and usually have real high butter fat content with the milk.  Anything else you do on the farm?”

Anna:  “I mainly take care of the calves like I said.  I always feed them, make sure they’re not sick and make sure they have bedding.  I always milk cows and sometimes I feed the cows if my brothers aren’t around to help out.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Do you know how many head you have in your dairy herd?”

Anna:  “We have a 94 stall barn, but we have a little more than that because of the dry farm.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Can talk about how long your parents have been on the farm?”

Anna:  “My mom and dad, Mark and Julie Kayhart, their dad, my grandpa, he started farming with just a couple head and he lived off of the farm.  But then he moved to the farm and got more cows.  My dad took it over and built and added on to our barn, so now we have 94 stalls.  We have three barns.  One is a milking barn and then we have one for heifers and the other for dry cows.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Tell us about your brothers?”

Anna:  “Peter is 13, Philip is 11 and Andrew is 8.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Marshall, do you want to tell us about your family farm?”

Marshall:  “My grandpa bought our family farm back in 1958.  And when he first bought it he got an 80 acre piece of land and there was just an old rundown barn.  So, he put in a 40 cow barn and then he built a shed attached to that barn.  Then put up a harvester silo and a concrete silo."

"He put up a machine shed and a couple other buildings.  Then, in 1993, my mom bought the farm from him and put up a calf barn.  Since then, my mom has had cattle.  And then when she sold a few years back, I started.  So, the farm has been in the family since 1958.”

Mr.  Kuchta:  “That’s great!  We have two third generation dairy farmers and both are Freshmen here at Granton High School!”

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