SHOW NOTES:

INTRODUCING KATE ZAKARAS!

Our guest today loves livestock.  Just look at this list of what she raises at her home in Murdock,

Nebraska:

• Dairy Goats
• Meat Goats
• Pygmy Goats
• Myotonic (Fainting) Goats
• Chickens
• Ducks

But what does a person do with all of those animals?  Kate Zakaras has figured that out.  She volunteers on a neighbor’s nearby farm during Christmas time.  She contributes animals if needed for live nativity scenes and spends the rest of her time educating the visitors about the nativity as well as the livestock, ruminants and anything else agriculture that she can talk about.

Kate is a wealth of information too.  I did not know what a myotonic goat was coming into this episode.  Or, at least I did not know that it was what is commonly referred to as a fainting goat.  But I certainly did not know that they “faint” because of a heart condition and that it is not good for them to do it over and over again.  

Agriculture needs good people educating the public about our animals.  We are lucky to have Kate doing this for us, especially at this special time of year.

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Goat & Poultry Production

FFA CHAPTER: Palmyra FFA Chapter; Palmyra, Nebraska

MASCOT: Knights

FFA ADVISOR: Ken Malone

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR KATE ZAKARAS:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the Elmwood-Murdock High School website:

Kate’s FFA Advisors’ Email Addresses:  malone.ken@districtor1.net

Palmyra High School’s Telephone Number: 402-780-5327

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)

Support FFA 

Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000.  In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants.  With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

• Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world.  FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and insure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
• Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation.  The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
• Farmers, ranchers and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“Because American farmers are able to provide for so many of us, they give more and more of us the freedom to pursue goals and livelihoods beyond growing the food we need to survive.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack 

Other Places You Can Listen To Us:

D&B Supply Show

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