Mansfield FFA getting ready for the show

By Amanda Rogers

Mansfield Record

In the past, Mansfield was known for the Kow Bell Rodeo and for being mostly agricultural. Almost every kid was involved in FFA, showing lambs, goats, pigs, heifers or steers.

But with the influx of new residents, Mansfield has grown more metropolitan, moving away from its country roots. And the numbers of FFA students reflected that, with falling numbers.

“When I started in Mansfield 10 years ago, I think we maybe had 75 in FFA and not all of those showed animals,” said Shaye Ann Atwood, who is the Agriculture Coordinator for the Mansfield ISD and principal of the Jerry Knight STEM Academy.

But that has changed, say Atwood and James Willson, a Mansfield  ISD agriculture teacher who oversees the Ron Whitson Agricultural Science Center.

Mansfield ISD now boasts 300 students in FFA, and 1,200 in agriculture classes throughout the district, she said. Eighty percent of the FFA members will show an animal, Atwood said, including chickens, goats, rabbits, turkeys, lambs, pigs, heifers and steers.

Some of the students are able to keep their animals at their homes, but others keep them at the Ron Whitson Agricultural Science Center, a Mansfield ISD arena and a pair of 10,000-square-foot barns with pens for animals.

Mansfield ISD will have students showing at the Fort Worth Stock Show, San Angelo Stock Show, Rodeo Austin Livestock Show, San Antonio Stock Show, Houston Livestock Show and the Tarrant County Junior Livestock Show, Willson said.

Mansfield’s FFA will take more than 200 animals to the Fort Worth Stock Show, which runs Jan. 12-Feb. 3 at the Will Rogers Memorial Center.

“We’ve got every animal that you can show, except llamas,” Willson said.

Willson, who is in his fourth year of teaching ag classes in the Mansfield ISD, has seen the numbers in his classes surge.

“There has been 75 percent growth every year I’ve been here,” he said.

So what’s behind the resurgence of interest in agriculture?

“Honestly, Mansfield is one of three districts in the state that have ag classes in kindergarten through 12th grade,” Willson said. “We were the first one and a model for one in Lubbock.”

Children in kindergarten through fourth grade at Tarver-Rendon Elementary School get ag classes once a week, just like art and music, Atwood said.

“At Donna Shepard Intermediate School, everybody gets ag in the fifth grade,” she said. “In the sixth grade, they can select it just like choir or band. We have space for 100 kids in ag. Three hundred wanted it. The band teachers are mad at me.”

From there, students head to Linda Jobe Middle School, where they can take ag classes as an elective.

“They offer multiple courses,” Atwood said. “They get an idea of what they want to take in high school.”

Students at all high schools can take ag classes as an elective.

“There’s a place for everybody,” Atwood said. “They can show a rabbit, they can do baked goods, needlework, photography, ag mechanics, metal and wood.”

Students can also sign up for Leadership Development Events, where FFA members study for college and career skills. Out of 1,500 FFA chapters in Texas, Mansfield’s FFA qualified for the state competition in LDE this year.

“It helps every kid find a niche, a place they feel connected,” Atwood said. “When they’re involved, their grades are better and they don’t get into trouble. If they don’t pass, they don’t show. We have had that happen.”

Dayton and Ava King have found a spot this year, showing their Boer goat Oakley.

“We always wanted to try FFA,” said Dayton, 11. “We thought about showing a rabbit. We knew a lot of people that had goats. A lot of people help us.”

Oakley is a “really good goat” that listens, said Ava, 8. Except when he gets hungry.

“When he’s hungry, he can get kind of hangry,” Dayton said.

Kolbey Florence, a 15-year-old freshman at Mansfield Legacy High School, began showing a year ago, and now has nine pigs. She plans to show at Fort Worth, San Angelo, San Antonio, Tarrant County and Houston. Florence shows gilts (female pigs that have not given birth) and barrows (castrated male pigs).

“I learned a lot of responsibility,” she said. “I learned to trust my animal. I learned to be partners with my animal.”

Barrow pigs are sold after the show for slaughter, something that was difficult for Florence.

“The first one was hard,” she said. “I tried to jump out of the truck and get him. It’s hard. You have them for about nine months, so you get really attached.”

Sophia Patterson, a 16-year-old junior at Mansfield Legacy High School, has grown a lot in the three years that she has shown Shorthorn heifers.

“Mostly responsibility,” she said. “A lot of days I’m tired and don’t want to come to the barn. But it’s not really a choice. It’s a lot of work and you definitely need to know what you’re getting into. It’s definitely worth it.”

Sophia’s mom, Denise Patterson, agreed.

“She has learned life lessons,” Patterson said. “She’s been more outgoing, talking to adults. Studying for LDE has helped her study. Her grades are amazing. She is so competitive.”