RODEO

Students learn about animals at Austin fair

Annual program teaches children about the basics of cowboy life, livestock.

By Matt Presser
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 06, 2008

As he learned about longhorns at the Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo on Wednesday morning, CJ Alfonso's reactions ranged from "ew" — when handler Tommy Worrell kissed Shotgun — to "aw" — when the longhorn bowed.

At the end, CJ, a second-grader at Govalle Elementary School in East Austin, concluded, "Aw, man, I want a bull."

CJ was one of about 1,000 students from area elementary schools touring the rodeo Wednesday. For seven years, the rodeo has hosted school groups, and this year organizers expect more than 5,000 students to turn out over five days.

Aside from learning about longhorns, students saw a roping demonstration, watched a demonstration on milking a cow and checked out an old-fashioned chuck wagon.

Vivian Batista, a kindergarten teacher at Northeast Austin's Harris Elementary School, said the tour complemented her class' study of farm animals.

"They're all amazed when they see cows and sheep because most of them will never see them" otherwise, she said.

At the cow milking stop, Clyde Holekamp demonstrated how milk goes from the cow to the kitchen table, touching on food safety, animal welfare and environmental issues in between.

"They see a live cow real close," he said. "That's a selling point right there, to see her performing her duty in front of everybody."

Wednesday morning's crowd was especially young, Holekamp said, so he used some tricks to keep the children quiet and attentive.

"I said, 'You make too many noises and the cow won't give us milk,' " he said, smiling. "No, that's not entirely true. They're just the tricks of the trade."

At the roping station, Matt Merritt showed off his skills, including the ocean wave and the crossover.

Merritt brought kindergartner Jasmine Evans to the center of the ring and lassoed her.

But she wasn't scared, she said, " 'cause I'm a big girl."

Worrell, who owns the longhorns, only got one question — "Can we pet it?" — from a group of second-graders, but he usually gets some surprising ones, he said.

"Sometimes even the teachers ask, 'Are they born with the horns?' " he said. (They're born with "a little bitty nub" that starts growing immediately, he said.)

A group of second-graders from Mina Elementary School in Bastrop shared a variety of favorite stops, from the roping station to when they were treated to ice cream.

"I liked when we saw the milk come out of the cow and squirt into a bottle," Kaitlin Arnett said. "This is so much better than school."

mpresser@statesman.com; 445-3601