Red Devil Ranch prepares kids for ag life

By Mandee Leonhardt
Posted 4/3/17

EVANSTON — Evanston High School teacher Brenden Ellis has had a dream to give kids a real life ranching experience since he started teaching agriculture.

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Red Devil Ranch prepares kids for ag life

Posted

EVANSTON — Evanston High School teacher Brenden Ellis has had a dream to give kids a real life ranching experience since he started teaching agriculture. He said he believes learning all the ins and outs of this subject are more beneficial outside of the classroom.

With help from EHS principal Merle Lester and the community, the Red Devil Ranch has started to make progress and become a real school ranch.
Many years ago, the school district purchased property to build future facilities. The agriculture department has been cleaning the 50-acre property, repairing and constructing new fences.
In the beginning, the ranch was mainly for animal science students, but since then it has branched out to include all agriculture courses at EHS.
The advanced welders at EHS built a corral system and pipeline fence. Last fall, ag students built a barbed wire fence. Since then, the ranch is caring for cattle donated by the community, some of which are going to calve within a few weeks.
Students get the opportunity to go to the ranch and feed the cattle, tend to the sick and deal with real life ranching issues.

“It’s not that we’re running a lot of cows, but we’re running enough to give the kids experience of how something like that would work,” said Ellis.
The cows teach each agriculture class something, whether it’s building fence or how to check to see if a cow is pregnant.
Lester and Ellis are helping the kids learn with the newest ranching technology; that’s beneficial because it’s most likely what they would work with if they choose to continue ranching in the future.
“I want it to be as life-like as possible, to simulate a real ranch, with the latest technology,” Lester said. “Those are the skills these kids are going to need.”
The students don’t only tend to the cattle — the department also owns close to 40 acres of ground for hay.
The ranch gives the students a sense of responsibility and a chance to have ownership before actually going out on their own.
“It’s a chance for these kids to get out and [learn from] trial and error. They’re going to make mistakes,” said Ellis. “It’s a chance for them to see new technology be utilized.”
Ellis said there are still some improvements to be made at the ranch. The students continue to progress, as does the ranch. According to Ellis and Lester, they are going to start a high-intensity grazing program for the cattle until they can get hay.
Ellis is also looking forward to having a barn built through fundraising next year.
“It could go a lot faster if we hired someone to do it, but it’s a whole lot more money. And we would miss the experience with the kids building the barn,” said Ellis.
He said the barn would help kids get a closer look at the cattle in a safer, warmer environment. It would also be a chance for the ranch to grow.
School district officials are looking for people who would like to either help build or help donate to the barn. If anyone is interested, contact Merle Lester or Brenden Ellis at EHS.