Sunday, March 23, 2025
MANSFIELD – As one might expect from a school located smack dab in the middle of a wheat and livestock community, the FFA program at Mansfield High School has nearly three-quarters of its enrollment involved.
“We have 23 active members, which is 71 percent of our student body,” reports Agriculture/FFA Instructor Jamey Jo Steele.
The group is currently gearing up for its annual Dinner & Silent Auction on March 23.
“We sell 100 dinner tickets,” said Steele. “Dinner includes chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and green salad.”
Dessert is a fun – and competitive – part of the meal.
“We have a Dessert Dash, which means we have a variety of desserts, and each table has a money jar on it,” said Steele. “Whichever table donates the highest amount gets to pick their dessert first. It has become quite the competition over the years.”
The students are not only good stewards of livestock, they also manage their finances well.
“We have been very diligent with our fundraising monies and are now in a position where we are going to purchase our own livestock trailer to haul animals instead of having to borrow from community members,” said Steele. “This will be a huge purchase that the kids and I are very excited about.”
Wilco, a farmer-owned cooperative that dates to the 1930’s, also helps with finances.
“We received a Wilco ‘FFA Forever’ Grant that we used to purchase eight new pig self-feeders for our FFA farm,” said Steele. “These will replace ones that over the years have experienced wear and tear. This is our third year in a row receiving a Wilco Grant.”
Steele and four senior FFA members attended the Ag Show in Spokane on Feb. 6 and listened to keynote speaker Rob Sharkey also known on social media as “TheSharkFarmer.”
“This summer we will have three members raising market steers, four members raising market hogs, and eight members raising market meat goats,” said Steele. “All will be exhibited at the NCW Fair August 21-24, 2025.
Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media
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