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Welcome to the Louisiana 4-H section of AgMagic.
Take a fun photo at the entrance to the 4-H section!
4-H is a community of young people across America who are learning leadership, citizenship and life skills. Louisiana 4-H is offered through the LSU AgCenter Cooperative Extension Service with thousands of 4-H clubs across the state. Louisiana 4-H has been serving youth for more than 100 years. Louisiana 4-H provides real-life “learn-by-doing” experiences for children and teens in grade four to college.
As you walk through this section, you will learn about 4-H Summer Camp, the 4-H pledge, what it means to be a 4-H member and some of the fun things 4-H’ers learn and do. Also, learn more about water safety, picnic safety and hiking safety.
Learn about the risks of smoking in the Tobacco-free Living exhibit from Southern University Ag Center.
After touring the 4-H section, you will enter the “World of Wonder,” where you will learn about forests and animals that live in the forest.
1. Wildlife needs food, water and cover to live. A forest like you see here provides a place where animals can hide and be safe, giving them the cover they need.
2. Habitat means all the places an animal lives. The World of Wonder forest is an example of a wildlife habitat. To manage wildlife, you must manage their habitat.
3. Private landowners own most wildlife habitats in Louisiana, making them important in providing the food, water and cover wildlife needs.
4. Hunting is a tool for managing wildlife populations to keep the animals from destroying their habitats.
5. Predator control is sometimes needed to manage wildlife. The coyote and boar you see near the forest are examples of a predator.
6. We also need to care for and manage nongame wildlife because they are an important component. Birds and snakes are examples of nongame wildlife species.
7. Endangered species are animals that have had trouble surviving without special management of their habitats. The black bear is an example of an endangered species in Louisiana.
Make animal tracks.
1. Just how big is forestry in Louisiana? Almost one-half our entire state is forested.
See satellite picture.
2. Louisiana’s forests and forest products companies are important to our economy. These companies made $3 billion dollars for the state last year, and more than 21,000 Louisiana people work in the forest industry.
3. Healthy forests provide clean air and water. Trees help clean pollution out of the air and give off oxygen. They also filter water as it moves through the soil after a rain.
Don’t miss Smokey Bear and the “Parts of a Tree” banner. See the root system.
4. Foresters are the people who work to keep our trees growing so we have healthy forests. They also work to make sure we have forests and wood products in the future.
5. Foresters often cut some trees down so the ones that are left will have enough room to grow and be healthy.
6. More than 100 million trees are planted each year in Louisiana.
7. How does the wood get from the forest to the products we use?
a. First, some trees in the forest are cut down.
b. Those trees then are cut into logs.
c. The logs go to a sawmill or paper mill.
d. Those logs can be sawed into lumber that is made into many products, such as houses, dog houses, sheds, fences and furniture, or they can be turned into pulp for paper.
1. Small logs go to paper mills, where they are made into wood chips and then cooked in a huge pot to make pulp, which is pressed and dried to make paper.
2. The sawdust and bark also can be used to keep our houses warm in winter. They can be mixed with wax, like candle wax, and burned in our fireplaces.
3. Other forest products we use every day are paper towels and tissue paper.
Take a look at the cord of wood and huge tree cookie.
See the table with products made from wood and two large banners with products made from wood.
4. Products that use ingredients from wood include chewing gum, baby food, baby diapers and corkboard, which is the bark of the cork tree.
5. We also use wood for building houses and in making furniture for our homes.
6. Did you know tires use sap from the rubber tree?
7. Large trees have been used as a building material for a very long time. The first settlers used wood because they had limited resources and could see the advantage of using wood as a readily available resource that was strong, light and renewable.
See different types of firewood.
Did you notice the tubs of sawdust, wood chips, pinecones and wood flakes?
8. In these tubs are:
a. Pinecones that provide seeds for animals of the forest to eat.
b. Sawdust that is used to make particle board and fuel.
c. Wood cookies that show the rings of a tree.
d. Wood flakes that are used to make oriented strand board (panels).
Make leaf stamps. Also, plant a tree in the sandbox!
Your journey now takes you into an area called Farming
the Waters. That’s right, some of our food comes from Louisiana ponds. Let’s
enter Farming the Waters and see what our friends from the LSU AgCenter
Aquaculture Research Station have to show us.
Please do not put your hands into the tanks, and do not go beyond the roped areas.
To help the fish grow fast, we feed them pellets that contain food products grown in Louisiana — like soybeans and corn.
1. Soft-shell blue crab aquaculture is one of the oldest aquaculture industries in the United States.
2. To grow larger, crabs must molt or shed their old shells. Based on a color change on the edge of the back fin, crab fishers and shedders can tell how close a crab is to molting.
Use the magnifying lenses to see baby crawfish up close.
1. Oysters are grown in salt water around the edge of an ocean.
2. Oysters do not move, except when they are babies.
3. Oysters eat by filtering very small plants, called plankton, from the water.
1. Louisiana has more than a thousand crawfish farmers who raise crawfish for us to eat! Do you like to eat crawfish?
2. Crawfish often are grown in fields that also are used to grow rice.
3. We catch the crawfish in traps like those you see in the pools in this area.
4. Baby crawfish are about the size of mosquitoes.
5. It takes four to six months for a baby crawfish to grow big enough so we can catch and eat it!
Don’t miss the alligators!
1. Turtles are raised in Louisiana, and our baby turtles are shipped around the world to be used as pets.
2. Louisiana produces more alligators than any place in the world!
3. Mother alligators build nests on the ground and lay eggs just like birds.
4. We use alligator skin to make shoes, purses, belts and watchbands. Alligator meat is good to eat, too.
Do not take alligators out of the containers!
Explore creatures of the Gulf Coast by examining animal artifacts and anatomy.
You are now going to enter the Plant Products area. You
will learn about plants, where food comes from and other products we get from
plants.
1. Soil is composed of sand, silt and clay particles.
2. Soil is alive with many organisms. Some are too small to see, and some, like earthworms, are big enough to hold in your hand.
Pick the fruit from the tree and vegetables from the garden. Dig for worms. Dig for sweet potatoes.
3. Seeds need water, light and warmth to grow.
4. St. Augustinegrass grows well in the shade.
5. Most football and soccer fields use a grass called Bermudagrass.
Learn where ketchup comes from or what agricultural crop is used to make clothing.
6. The Louisiana state tree is the bald cypress.
7. The Louisiana state flower is the southern magnolia.
8. Rosemary plants can be used for decoration and in cooking.
See rice, cotton, corn, wheat, sugar, forages and sorghum.
9. The Louisiana state fruit is the strawberry.
10. Earthworms can live up to six years.
11. Earthworms have no head or eyes and only a simple brain.
12. Without plants, we wouldn’t be alive! Plants provide us with the oxygen we breathe.
Climb into the combine and take a look around.
You will now enter the world of insects where, of
course, BUGS RULE!! They may not rule by size, but insects are known for their
abundance in just about any habitat you can imagine. Insects represent half of
the known organisms on the planet. Under certain conditions, large numbers of
insects can destroy crops, forests and buildings, making bugs an important
consideration when it comes to our food supply and shelter.
The majority of insects are not harmful to people or animals. Insects are diverse. You might encounter anything from beetles to butterflies, termites to tent caterpillars, mosquitoes to monarchs, fleas to fireflies or lady bugs to luna moths.
1. Insects are arthropods, meaning they have an exoskeleton, segmented body and jointed legs.
2. All insects have three body regions — head, thorax and abdomen — and three pairs of legs. Most also have wings. Different groups of insects can be distinguished by the number and type of wings they have and by their chewing or sucking mouthparts.
Take a look at the giant mosquito or the hissing cockroach.
3. Insects and related arthropods represent three of every four organisms on the planet. There are more than 1 million species of insects we’ve found and formally described so far, and there may be more than 10 million.
4. Insects can be found almost everywhere and affect people in various ways. Insects have been a source of food for people around the world and a source of important medical and industrial products.
5. Think about how insects and these other arthropods protect themselves. Defense is not only related to stings and venom. Insects can hide or camouflage themselves or produce a stinky odor to drive enemies away. Most insects have the gift of flight and can simply fly away from danger.
6. Many spiders, centipedes, wasps and bees can inject venom from their fangs or stingers. Giant water bugs can inflict a painful stab with their beaks. Other insects will bite when threatened.
7. Spiders, centipedes, millipedes and crustaceans — like crawfish and crabs — are arthropods, too, and can be distinguished by the number of body segments and number of legs.
8. Insects, of course, are a major part of the food chain. Many animals, such as frogs, fish, birds, lizards and some rodents, depend on insects for food.
9. The queen bee lays from 1,500 to 2,000 eggs per day.
10. Butterflies are attracted to certain plants. They like nectar plants, which provide food for adult butterflies. Lantana, coneflower, butterfly bush, pentas and verbena are nectar plants.
Visit the butterfly house. See butterflies!
Animals provide us with a variety of products like
milk, beef, eggs and pork. Let’s step inside the Animals Produce for You
portal, where you will see chickens, cows, pigs, goats and more.
1. A dairy cow supplies us with milk.
2. With milk, we are able to make butter, ice cream, cheese and yogurt.
3. A cow produces about 6 gallons or 96 servings of milk every day!
4. To produce that much milk, a cow must eat about 40 pounds of feed and hay each day.
Take a photo with the baby pigs.
1. A mother horse is called a mare, and a baby horse is called a foal. The father horse is called a stallion.
2. A horse eats about 10 pounds of grain and hay per day and drinks 10 gallons of water.
3. Horses learn quickly and can be taught all kinds of skills and tricks.
1. A male rabbit is called a buck
2. A female rabbit is called a doe.
3. A baby rabbit is called a kit.
4. A rabbit house is called a hutch.
5. Rabbits have 28 teeth and can jump up to 36 inches or higher.
1. A mother sheep is called a ewe, and a baby sheep is a lamb. The father sheep is called a ram.
2. Sheep produce meat for human consumption.
3. Meat from a sheep is called lamb — lamb chops, lamb roast, leg of lamb, ground lamb and so forth.
4. Market lambs start out as feeder lambs after being weaned from the ewe. They weigh approximately 50 to 60 pounds. They are considered ready to be marketed for meat when they reach approximately 115 to 125 pounds. Lambs generally are around 6 months old when they are harvested for their meat.
5. Wool also is harvested from live sheep to make products for people — like wool suits, rugs, cosmetics and more.
1. A mother pig is called a sow and usually has about 10 babies per litter.
2. In just five months after it is born, a pig can weigh as much as 250 pounds.
3. Meat from pigs is called pork. Some of the products pigs supply us with are pork chops, bacon and ham.
1. A mother goat is called a doe, and a baby goat is called a kid. The father goat is called a buck.
2. Goats produce meat for human consumption. Some breeds of goats also produce milk for human consumption, and those are called dairy goats.
3. Market goats start out as feeder goats after weaning from the does. They weigh approximately 40 to 50 pounds.
They are considered ready to be marketed for meat when they reach approximately 80 to 100 pounds. A goat generally is 3 to 6 months old when it is harvested for meat.
1. Beef cattle are an important source of meat.
2. A mother beef animal is called a cow, and a baby is called a calf. A young female beef animal that has not had a calf is called a heifer. The father beef animal is called a bull.
3. Mostly steers (castrated males) and heifers are harvested for their meat.
4. Most steers and heifers are marketed when they reach 1,000 to 1,200 pounds. They generally are about 12 to 24 months of age when they are harvested for their meat.
1. Poultry is the largest animal agricultural industry in Louisiana.
2. Some chickens are raised mainly to lay eggs. They are called layers. Each layer chicken produces about 250 eggs a year.
3. Meat birds are called broilers.
4. It takes 21 days for a baby chick to hatch from its egg.
5. It takes a baby chick about six weeks to reach market weight.
See eggs hatch!
You’ve been through the forest, past the sea and down
on the farm. Now let’s see how all those areas are connected to the food we eat
every day.
Seeds to Success will help you identify different fruits and vegetables.
Visit a produce stand!
1. Mealtime is a great time for families to spend time together. It is also a time to build healthy eating habits.
Join us in the dining room and learn how to build a healthy plate with USDA MyPlate guidelines.
2. Wash vegetables and fruits. Rinsing with water is important to remove harmful bacteria.
Learn about nutrition and healthy lifestyles from Southern University Ag Center and LSU AgCenter nutritionists.
Louisiana agricultural products make their way to
your local grocery stores and farmers markets. Take a walk through a fresh
market, compliments of Rouse’s Markets, to see how Louisiana food products from
the farm wind up on store shelves.
Visit the hand-washing station.
Thanks for attending AgMagic. This concludes your tour. We hope you have enjoyed it. Please remember to visit the hand-washing station as you exit.
Restrooms are past the exit doors (women/ girls to the right and men/boys to the left).
