The San Benito County CattleWomen have had a busy late winter and spring with many activities.
The CattleWomen organization released the following on those activities:
Springtime has started the many activities of the local SBC CattleWomen, beginning with their successful Pedro Party in February. The Pedro Party event was chaired by Wrangler Cheri Holiday and her committee consisting of CattleWomen Rosemarie Bianchi, Heather Callens, Janie Lausten, Toni Jane Renz, Jae Eade, Charlotte Cabral, Kelsey Stewart, Marie Pera and Martha Tobias. The evening was a great success with twenty tables of Pedro players some of whom traveled from Watsonville and Los Banos. The evening was filled with lots of laughter, great prizes and wonderful tasty food.
The Annual Farm Day event at Bolado Park was a March event filled with volunteers from our community including the CattleWomen’s organization. Farm Day is a countywide supported event which brings children from all the county schools who attend the third grade to view and experience what agriculture in all its forms is all about. The event exposes children to three areas: Ag facts, Animals and Equipment. Each group of children has a guide to assist them in viewing and participating in the three areas of interest.
This year volunteers from the CattleWomen were Allison Renz Clark, Bonnie Rich, DeeCee Donati, Joy Law, Rosemarie Bianchi, Sally Silva, Mindy Sotelo, Shannon Renz Duncan, Nenette Corotto, Heather Callens, Rebecca Mederios Wolf, Jae Eade and Sandy Williams. CattleWomen helped as guides, presenters and in the office to coordinate the event. CattleWomen Mindy Sotelo, who is the Executive Secretary of the San Benito County Farm Bureau, was the chairperson for the 2016 Farm Day Event. The “Animal Area” had presentations on how different animals are raised, such as cattle, goats, rabbits, chickens, ducks, sheep and hogs. Many of these presenters were part of the Future Farmers Association (FFA) from our local high school. In the small arena at Bolado two presenters, Joe Morris and CattleWoman Mary Lou Coffelt explained the history of being a cowgirl/cowboy and what it takes to herd cattle.
In the “Ag Facts Area” specialty items such as Beekeeping were discussed with visual examples for the children to see; a presentation of the Weaving of cloth; a presentation by CattleWomen Jae Eade and Sandy Williams explaining Beef By Products and Brand Identification which included allowing children to hold a branding iron and pretend to brand a wooden cow; a demonstration by Farrier Brett Johnson showing how he shoes horses; a musical event which emphasized clean water and good habitat by singing songs; a presentation by our local Veteranarian Charles Tobias on good animal health and a tour of the San Benito County Saddle Horse Association Museum by CattleWoman Rebecca Mederios Wolf and other members of the SBC Saddle Horse Association showing the history of our county and the local ranchers who lived both in the past and present. In the”Equipment Area” there were demonstrations of water irrigation systems that are currently being used to irrigate the food we grow, harvesters showing how they plant grain fields and what kinds of grain can be used in our area, sprayers to keep the row crops healthy, plant harvesters for other vegetable row crops Grain Farming, vegetable crop development and all the support businesses it takes to produce our food for America.
The SBC CattleWomen provide part of the support for Farm Day so children can better understand how much goes into developing healthful food for everyone to eat. The annual Farm Day is a wonderful event which shows the community strength to work together to help keep the spirit of teamwork and ingenuity that has made America the breadbasket of the world. The SBC CattleWomen are part of that great American Spirit that has helped create the United States of America as a shining example of how great a country can become with hard work and dedication .
