2022-23 FFA Members – Becoming What The Future Needs Next
GREENHAND CEREMONY – by Truman Ledbetter. Our members received their Greenhand degree after a full year of being in FFA. Along with the Greenhands, our 2nd year FFA members received their chapter degrees.
The event was held on Jan. 11, in the Elementary gym. Forty-two of our members received their Greenhand degree. Our 1st place chapter Creed speaker, Lela Brown performed the Creed at the Greenhand Ceremony.
Our members also got to hear from state officer Katie Fredrickson about staying motivated for activities this year.
Now the Greenhadns will be able to put their Greenhand pin on their FFA jacket.
Greenhand Motivational Conference
by Hannah Klaiber
Who: Greenhands with the state officers
What: Motivational conference to teach green hands the many opportunities they have to look forward to throughout their time in FFA. How to set Goals for themselves and truly strive for their true potential.
When: Jan. 11
Why: to encourage them to strive in FFA
Where: Springfield
On January 11th, Eldo FFA headed for Springfield for their Greenhand Motivational Conference. This Greenhand Conference is an event that all Greenhands look forward to throughout the year. The conference is led by State officers with the main goal to encourage new members to strive for success, learn about opportunities within FFA, get out of their comfort zones, and truly reach for the stars. Before you can truly flourish in FFA you have to know what the organization has to offer and begin to prepare. Our State officers did a wonderful job of breaking down the acronyms of events such as WLC or Washington Leadership Conference as well as giving the Greenhands an opportunity to learn about Career Development Events such as floriculture, meats, and livestock judging and Leadership Development Events such as Creed speaking, Division 1 speaking, and job interview. They also got to learn the importance of an SAE or Supervised agricultural experience and prepare it for the rest of their FFA career. The State officers also had each Greenhand write down a goal they have for themselves within FFA. Overall, they took home valuable knowledge that they will carry with them throughout the rest of their journey in FFA.
How we are celebrating FFA Week
By Macy Stauffer
National FFA Week will be held Feb. 19-25. To celebrate, our chapter has planned a fun-filled week full of activities.
To kick off FFA Week, we are challenging FFA members to wear Official Dress to attend their own church services and share it on our Facebook page.
On Monday, FFA members will be challenged to share a picture of their Supervised Agriculture Experience, or SAE, on our Facebook page, since school won’t be in session that day.
On Tuesday, our dress up day will be Camo Day, where students will come to school decked out in their camo. Tuesday evening we have Bowling Night for the FFA chapter.
On Wednesday, our dress up day is Western Wednesday, with a Movie Night in the evening.
On Thursday, FFA members will wear their FFA shirts and the FFA chapter will be hosting an Appreciation Breakfast that all teachers and community members are invited to attend. That evening members who are invited will attend Area IX Banquet.
On Friday, FFA members will drive their tractors to school, and wear their FFA jackets to school. Friday afternoon the members will hold a parade with their tractors for the elementary school, and then after school members are invited to be a part of a scavenger hunt around town.
Finally, on Sunday the 26th, FFA members will attend El Dorado Springs Missionary Baptist Church together in Official Dress to finish off FFA Week.
Barnwarming report
by Gracie Mead
We had barnwarming on Saturday, Nov. 19. Candidates were voted on by each class, then king and queen were determined by points scored at the dance.
The freshman class candidates were Lela Brown and Grady Crews; sophomore candidates were Kanden McGuirk and Clanci McKellips and juniors Grace Kinnett and Matthew Esparza.
Your senior candidates were Montana Hacker, Hannah Klaiber, Truman Ledbetter, Wriley Taylor, Alyssa Irvin and Garrett Klaiber.
It was a great night of fun and dancing. A big thank you goes out to Paula Newman for DJing for us and alumni for providing a meal. They provided nachos and dessert and drinks!
Your 2022 barn warming king and queen were Montana Hacker and Wriley Taylor. We had a great night of dancing and fun.
Crops, Cattle, and Pigs- That is My SAE
by Tackett Arnold
My SAE Consists of crops, cattle, and pigs.
My Dad and uncle owned a custom baling business and baled thousands of round bales and square bales each summer. I wasn’t old enough to help with that business, but it set the stage for our future operation.
I work for my dad and have my own ownership project. We start drilling in high quality forage in the fall, so we can harvest in late Spring. Our cows love the protein rich forage and we see gains in weight in our calves. We mow, rake, and bale fescue seed. I do not have my own my own equipment, so Dad and I partner on the work.
I was able to rent 80 acres of pasture land in 2020 sadly not all of it could be baled for hay but only about 10 acres of it could be baled. I baled my very first hay bale in June of 2020 and I have baled more every year since. I also help my Dad bale all of his hay every year which is around 1500 bales a summer when you add it all together. In June 2021 I also cut triticale silage off of my own ground for the first time.
Along with helping Dad with filling his three 200 foot bags of triticale silage for winter feed. 
Also later in the year I baled 844 small square bales off of it too and sold all of them for a profit. I have put a lot of effort into the 80 acres that I rent to raise the quality of the ground. My hope is that I can use more than 50% of it for forage production in the future.
I work for my dad and have my own project. We start drilling wheat in the fall to harvest in late Summer. We also do crops such as corn, soybeans, milo and hay.
I do not have most of the equipment, so Dad and I partner on the work. I was able to rent 30 acres of cropland in 2021. It was in the horse creek bottoms. I do all the ground preparation and run the drill.
I also help my Dad work all of his crop ground. In June 2021, I harvested my first crop of soybeans, which I sold for a decent profit. Now it is just down to adding fertility to the land for future crop yield gains.
This last year I had the opportunity to buy a combine. I also have my own cows and pigs. It has grown since I started and through raising and buying more cows I am now up to 36 head of cattle. I have 120 acres of pasture land rented. I also have a small feeder pig operation where I grow and sell pigs to people that want them. My plan is for my SAE to continue to grow.
National Convention Report
by Ryland Brower
National FFA Convention was held October 26-29 in Indianapolis, Indiana. This year we had 13 members who went through an application process and were selected to attend. The members that attended Convention this year were Tag Gurley, Christian Steuck, Kolten Norman, Tackett Arnold, Macy Stauffer, Kiera Strauch, Olivia Graves, Marshal Stauffer, Piper Spencer, Reese Schiereck, Gavin Heuser, and our top two freshmen mum sellers, Grady Crews and Connor Bradley. These members had a rough trip blowing the school van up on the side of I-70 in Warrenton just outside of St. Louis,1 But all in all they still sat through numerous sessions throughout Convention, spent time at the Expo, went to the rodeo, and visited the exotic feline ranch, Traders Point Creamery, Anderson’s Orchard, and mini golf. These members had a great time and are all looking forward to next year.
OFFICER TEAM – The El Dorado Springs 2022-23 officer team is one of a kind. This team brings many different aspects to the table to make the El Dorado Springs FFA Chapter what we are today.
So, to start off with we have President Hannah Klaiber, 1st Vice President Macy Stauffer, 2nd Vice President Reese Schiereck, Secretary Gracie Mead, Reporter Tackett Arnold, Treasurer Truman Ledbetter, Sentinel Tag Gurley, Historian Ryland Brower, Chaplin Garrett Klaiber, Parliamentarin Kolten Norman, and Advisors Jay Martin and Amy Ford.
We are very excited to see what this individuals are able bring to our FFA chapter and community.
Contest Stories
by: Macy Stauffer
There are so many different contest teams that are available to FFA members.
Over the past couple of years, I have had the opportunity to be on several successful teams. Starting with my freshman year, I was the alternate on the Conduct of Chapter Meetings team, a member of the Knowledge team, and I was the chapter Creed Speaker.
After long hours of practice and hard work, our Conducts team ended our season with alternate to State at Districts, second place in the State, and I was in the Top 16 at Nationals for Creed Speaking. My sophomore year I decided to be a part of the Meats team as well as compete in Division II Speaking.
Our Meats team ended our year at State placing 8th, and my D2 Speaking season ended shortly after placing first at Districts as there was a scheduling conflict with Meats and D2 at State and I had to pick only one to compete in.
This year I am looking forward to competing on the Nursery Landscape team, Farm Business Management team, and competing in Advanced Speaking. All of our contest teams are already hard at work and I am super excited to see what we accomplish this season.
My SAE Project
by Kolten Norman
My SAE is a combination of mechanical engineering, working in a store front and feed store. Whenever a person makes a feed order I will go out to the feed building and either sort it out to be ready for a delivery or I handload feed into a person’s vehicle.
If I work in the shop at Beaty’s I will work on machinery or test new products out in the field. For example, if we get a new hay rake, disc mower, or baler I will take that product into the field and test it out.
My other SAE is working at Bear Arms LLC. Bear Arms is a gun shop in El Dorado Springs. I work the store front there where I sell guns and ammo as well as build and clean firearms.
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