A Little Horsin' Around Might Have Smelled a Little Fishy Today

Yeehaw we had fun today!!!! Our Second Day of 4-H Animal Science Day Camp started with a meeting with a real life cowboy. More on that later. Actually we loaded up in our trusty vehicles and headed back to Raleigh. There we met with the wonderful folks at N. C. State University's Equine Unit. It is a place where research is done, horses are taken care of and new things to help horses and humans is learned day to day.
Our tour was lead by the manager of the unit and students. Our youth learned about some of the activities that go on at the Equine unit and what students learn and do there. We got the opportunity to meet vet med students as they examined a pregnant horse and then they got to meet a mare and her Phillie up close. As they learned about approaching horses, and where to and not to stand they couldn't help but be excited about petting the horses. The students answered all of their questions and were wonderful about holding on the horses as the day campers feel in love with these majestic creatures. After talking about various professions that involve horses our youth were lucky enough to meet an NCSU Mounted Police officer as he haltered his horse, Cowboy, and took him to the horse barn to meet the farrier. The youth also talked with the farrier and learned about the challenges of fun of shoeing horses.
After a wonderful, but hot tour we headed to the State Farmer's Market. There we enjoyed the most wonderful lunch. While our youth enjoyed the food our adults were tickled pink to accept the many compliments on how well behaved our youth were. We also enjoyed the best service ever as they made the entire experience wonderful for our youth and adults. We definitely suggest checking out the State Farmer's Market Restaurant if you are in Raleigh.

After lunch we headed to check out something fishy. We headed down the road to NCSU's Aquaculture center. There we learned about brine, fresh water, salt water, cold water fish, and fish that do well in warmer temps. We also got to see hybrid striped bass that were being raised at the farm. Of course the biggest thing we saw was a big bag of fish poop. No joke, they pump the fish waste into this bag and then the clean water leaks out of the bag, through the rocks and into the pond. When the bag gets full the open it up and a backhoe loads up and uses the waste on nearby pastures as a natural fertilizer. It was really cool.

Stay tuned as we check out some exotic animals tomorrow and expand the possibilities of learning and future careers.