Cow Camp produces teens seeking ag careers

Glenn Johnson will be the first to admit he thought his wife was nuts when she suggested they host a Cow Camp for children on their Steele County dairy farm.
“It was a chaotic mess the first couple years,” Johnson said with a chuckle.
Thirteen years later, the Johnsons, who operate Clover Glen Dairy Farm, are still hosting Cow Camp, and they are just beginning to realize the rewards of their work and passion to educate children about farm life.
Four of the 144 graduates of Cow Camp have gone on to pursue careers in agriculture. One of them is Lilly Zollner of Owatonna, who is currently studying to be a veterinary technologist at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
Zollner started out just like all the other third- and fourth-graders who have gone through Cow Camp with no knowledge or experience with dairy cows. She lived in town and immediately took a liking to life on the farm.
In later years, Zollner became a helper for Cow Camp and worked on the Johnson farm for a couple of summers doing farm work, including driving tractors, operating the chopper and raking hay.  
“It was because of what they were learning about cows,” said Johnson. “They liked coming out here to be with the animals,” he said, adding he has often found Zollner in the barn with her favorite cow.
Zollner’s love for dairy played a key role in her getting a job at the Kasson Vet Clinic this summer. “The vet asked me if I had 10 more like her,” Johnson said.
Besides working at the vet clinic, Zollner also is helping show open class dairy at the Steele County Free Fair. She has already graduated from the 4-H program.
“It has been fun watching her as the years progressed,” said Johnson, adding he is elated that she wants to work with animals for the rest of her life.
Zollner isn’t alone. Three other Cow Camp graduates, all girls, have committed to agriculture-related careers, including ag education, genetics and milk processing, Johnson said.
“There are so many jobs in agriculture that we don’t have enough people to fill them,” said Johnson, who has milked cows for more than 50 years. Noting that agriculture isn’t just about milking cows, he said, “We need to nurture people for those jobs… get people interested in what we actually do.”
The Johnsons have found something interesting about their Cow Camp. Of the 144 graduates, most of them are girls. “We’ve produced a lot of princesses and ambassadors,” said Deb McDermott-Johnson, Glenn’s wife and director of Owatonna Community Education, which sponsors the camp.
Vanessa Gouzalez, 15, of Owatonna, is one of the graduates helping with the camp this year. She actually got introduced to Cow Camp as a kindergartener. Since then, she has come back every year to help out.
“I still remember all my cows,” Gouzalez said as she rattled off their names: Iris, Hawaii, Babe, Ginger, Hefty, Honeydew and Digit.
Johnson knows not everyone is going to go into agriculture. “The No. 1 reason we do Cow Camp is to get people at a young age to know where their food comes from,” he said. “We also want to show them that we take care of our animals properly. It’s not what you see on the internet.”
The kids spend one day in the classroom and two days on the farm leading calves with halters around the yard. On the final day, the Johnsons load up the calves and head to Roosevelt Elementary School, where the kids can show their parents what they learned with the animals.
“It’s something they will remember for the rest of their lives,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, when they go to the grocery store, they will know where the food is coming from.”