KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Kelseyville High School is in the midst of making a quantum leap ahead in its agricultural program.
By February students in the school’s Future Farmers of America chapter will be learning about virtually all forms of livestock in an up-close-and-personal exposure provided by a new state-of-the-art barn on their campus.
“It’s a pretty fantastic structure,” said Kyle Reams, director of maintenance at Kelseyville High. “It will have its own feed storage, nice dry hay and a washroom for animals with stalls so that the kids are safe and the animals are safe while they’re washing them.”
Donelle McCallister, who has served 27 years as ag instructor at the school, called the new barn “a gift from the community to the Kelseyville Union School District.”
McCallister specifically thanked district Superintendent David McQueen, high school Principal Matt Cockerton, the district office staff and the board of education for their respective roles in creating the building.
Funding for the barn, a 60-foot by 60-foot premanufactured metal structure, came from money set aside for the project and donations. No fundraising campaign was needed.
Working with a company in Middletown, McCallister and Reams custom designed the barn in a modular way so that three quarters of it can be reconfigured to accommodate any form of livestock – from chickens to bovines.
Its design calls for large doors at either end and a cupola and metal panels on the sides for ventilation and to keep air moving.
“Eventually the building is going to have water, electricity and lights,” said Reams.
The floors will be covered in some areas and unimproved in others, depending on the animals’ needs.
The most significant thanks came from the students who will be able to study the animals housed in the barn more closely. Up till now, McCallister kept them in her personal barn.
“Quite a few students live on properties where they can’t have animals,” said Jared Smith, a junior in the FFA. “So this will open doors for us. We’ll be able to raise and care for an actual animal and develop skills along those lines.”
Said McCallister: “Eventually we would like to have chickens, pigs and goats in the barn. We’re hoping the kids will be able to use the facility right away.
“A whole bunch of trucks started bringing in fill this (Friday) morning,” she added. “We’re hoping that the barn will be here by the end of this month and that we’ll have it up by February. Landscaping and all of that will happen over time.”
Middletown and Upper Lake high schools also have student barns.
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Kelseyville High School prepares for new FFA barn project
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