For the love of cows

Cow camp is such a popular youth program that getting in is almost impossible.

Little Ollie Oldham knows first-hand.

“I’ve been wanting to do this since I was 4, but it fills up so fast I can never get in,” the 6-year-old said after leading his calf, Rambunctious, around Clover Glen Farm, the host of Cow Camp. And, he quickly added with a smile, that he was thrilled to finally get in.

Asked what he learned the most, Oldham said: “That cows are hard to control from the time they are a baby.”

Oldham was one of 12 youth participating in the 15^th annual Cow Camp. They all are given calves to lead around the farm. It becomes a tug-of-war between the calves and the kids pulling on them while sometimes the calves simply break free and run off with the kids chasing them behind.

The children are closely monitored under the watchful eyes of other youth counselors as well as Glenn Johnson and his wife Deb McDermott-Johnson, who operate Clover Glen Farm on the east edge of Steele County. Organized chaos is the best way Glenn Johnson can describe what his farm becomes when the kids show up for Cow Camp and try to lead calves around the farm for the first time ever for both the child and animal.

Johnson laughs about how often the calves end up leading the kids around the yard. “Who’s leading,” he asks one little boy. “Looks like she is leading you.”

As the children led their calves, Johnson focused on putting their minds at ease.

“You can tell your calf any secret you want, and they won’t repeat it,” Johnson said with a chuckle.
“So true,” one kid responded.

About 250 kids have graduated from Cow Camp since it began in 2008.

The camp’s popularity is something that even surprises the Johnsons.

“Registration opened at 6 a.m. and it was full at 6:01 with a waiting list,” said Glenn Johnson. The camp is offered through Owatonna Community Education where McDermott-Johnson serves as its director.

After spending a couple days on the farm, the Johnsons loaded up the calves and brought them to Owatonna on Thursday so the kids could show their parents what they learned by leading the calves around the Community Education building.

At least four Cow Camp graduates, Glenn Johnson said, have gone on to pursue careers in agriculture over the camp’s 15-year history. What makes that even more remarkable is that most of the graduates are city kids with no other connections to the farm.

“We influence their life enough that they look at an opportunity they wouldn’t normally look at,” said Johnson. “There is opportunity in agriculture that people don’t realize. We are so short in the ag industry.”

One graduate of Cow Camp is Vanessa Gonzalez, who will be a senior at Owatonna High School and now helps as a camp counselor. She first got involved with Cow Camp 13 years ago after her mother thought it would be a fun activity and encouraged her to get involved.

“I love the animals a lot,” Gonzalez said. “It’s really fun to work with the younger kids and seeing them love it. I like to show the younger kids what it’s all about and give them my knowledge.”

Gonzalez comes out to Clover Glen Farms four nights every week to assist with calf chores, something she has done since she was 7 years old. “I could cry… I just love it so much,” she says.

Gonzalez’s love for cows at Clover Glen Farms has also led her into joining FFA and 4-H as well as taking part in Dairy Bowl at school. This year she hopes to earn her first trip to the Minnesota State Fair.

Johnson has noticed over the years that girls are much more interested in agriculture and farm work than boys. “I have much better luck with the girls hiring them for summer jobs,” he said, adding guys rarely stick with it and don’t seem to have much interest.