Routt County Cattlewomen give third-grade students taste of agricultural lifestyle with Ranch Days

Sitting behind the wheel of his John Deere tractor Thursday morning, Matt Belton navigated berms, bumps and drainage ditches in a hay meadow on his ranch in northwestern Routt County.

Driving through hay meadows is nothing new for Matt, a fifth-generation rancher, who graduated from Steamboat Springs High School in 1988. The only difference on this day was that instead of hauling bales of hay to hungry cattle, his feed wagon was filled with an excited group of third-grade students from Sleeping Giant School learning about agriculture, ranching and raising animals.

“We’ve been doing this for 25 years,” Matt said of being a part of Ranch Days. “There are less kids on ranches than when I graduated, and we just want to show these students where food comes from and show them how it all works.”

Matt drove the students around his hay meadow — where they could get an up-close view of the Belton’s cows, as well as several newborn calves — before stepping out of the cab halfway through the trip and talking to students about life as a rancher.

Following the tour, students were divided into groups and led through several stations that informed the students about hay, farm equipment, cattle, horses, goats and chickens.

“The Routt County Cattlewomen’s Association made it a priority to have all third-graders within the district come to a ranch day once a year so that kids can understand the different industries that are out here and where their food comes from and what supports Routt County in general,” said Katrina Wellman-Machut, one of two third-grade teachers at Sleeping Giant School who were on the field trip. “It’s important because so many of the kids have never been to a ranch before, even though they’re prolific around our area.”

Christy Belton, Matt’s wife, said that Ranch Days have been a part of the family’s springtime tradition for 20-plus years, and the family always looks forward to hosting the students. She said that when they started hosting the events, many of the students had family members that either ranched or had been involved in ranching. But that has changed.

“I would say 20 years ago, we would have several kids who would say my dad has a ranch or I spent a week on my grandpa’s ranch,” Christy said. “We’re just seeing like a dwindling number. I do think it’s just demographics, and it’s just fewer people being involved in farming and ranching — particularly here.”

That change was also not lost on the parents who accompanied their children to the ranch.

“Every kid should see how important agriculture is, and not just in our community, but just worldwide,” said third-grade parent Tinisha Meader. “This is where food comes from, and so it is important for these students to get out here, hands-on, and see this and partake in the work, and what it takes for these ranchers to hold their places together.”

Parent Erika McNeany said it was important for her child to see the process and understand that ranchers are stewards of the land.

“It’s important to see how ranching and agriculture actually protect the environment and what they’re doing for water preservation and land preservation,” McNeany said. “I was in Aspen last weekend and everything is getting gobbled up by real estate, by apartments and development. To come back to Steamboat, back home, and see all of the open space that’s preserved, and know that’s in large part because of the agriculture here.”

Christy Belton hopes that the students who visit her ranch will find a connection, and will leave with memories.

“I want them to leave here with something in their memory that conjures up agriculture,” Belton said. “Because for a lot of these kids, this is all they’ll really see — they will drive through agriculture, but it’s not as meaningful for them. By putting a face with that, a place with that, our hope is that if nothing else, they realize that we in agriculture are human; we’re families that go back generations; we are people.”