Two cows. A whole curriculum.

Cattle are one of the most complete agricultural education tools on any farm. Through the care and management of our two cows, students learn animal nutrition, grazing rotation, the relationship between cattle and soil health, responsible livestock management, and the basics of sustainable ranching. They also learn something harder to quantify but just as important: what it means to be responsible for another living thing every single day.

Our cattle program is designed to be hands-on from day one. Students do not observe from a distance. They feed, they groom, they monitor health, and they document what they learn. That documentation becomes curriculum that travels to every extension farm in our network.

How your donation will be used:
Funds go toward the purchase of two cattle, fencing and shelter construction specific to cattle needs, feed and veterinary care for the first year of operation, halters and handling equipment, and the development of a cattle care curriculum that can be replicated at every Living Ground extension site domestically and internationally.

How it will be tracked and reported:
Cattle health and care is logged daily by program staff and reviewed monthly. Donors receive quarterly updates including photos, health reports, and program enrollment numbers. Feed and veterinary costs are tracked separately and reported as a line item in our quarterly financial summary. We will document the first year of the cattle program as a case study for replication at our extension sites and share that documentation with donors.

Why this matters:
You cannot teach sustainable food systems without teaching the animals that are part of them. These two cows are not just farm animals. They are faculty.

Cattle Program