09/21/2026
What an incredible 2-day adventure! Our Waseca County 4-H’ers hit the road for our Summer Livestock Overnight Trip, diving into hands-on learning, local agribusinesses, and animal science across the region! Here are a few highlights from our stops:
O'Neill Family Farm: Watched a working herding dog demonstration, learned about cattle pasture rotation, and felt raw lanolin during a sheep shearing demo
Capra Nera Creamery LLC: Enjoyed goat snuggles, watched a live cheese-making demo, and sampled delicious fresh ricotta and black pepper asiago
Hidden Stream Farm: Learned about their direct-to-consumer "food hub" business model (they collect 2,000 eggs a day!), threw beets to the pigs, and cooled off in the big walk-in freezer
CannonBelles: Toured the facility, tasted fantastic cheese samples, and made a pit stop at their local ice cream and coffee shop
Central Livestock Zumbrota, MN: Explored the auction rooms and holding pens to learn how livestock marketing works behind the scenes.
Cannon Valley Ranch at the Goodhue County Fair: Learned about evolving agricultural business models and caught the swine show at the fairgrounds
A HUGE THANK YOU to our amazing adult volunteers, Jeannie & Britt! Thank you both so much for giving your time, energy, and leadership to chaperone and make this trip so smooth, safe, and fun for our youth. Hands-on learning experiences like this simply wouldn't happen without dedicated volunteers like you!
As one participant put it, this experience was "the best kept secret in 4-H!" 100% of our attendees reported learning something useful for their future and discovering exciting new career paths in agriculture.
