Bringing the farm to the classroom

RACINE — Part of Stewartville FFA adviser Shawn Erickson’s mentality is equipping youth — including his own sons — with agriculture experiences.

“The more opportunities we give people to be involved with production ag and see production ag, the better it is for agriculture,” Erickson said.

Erickson and his wife, Megan, are 50% owners of Erickson Family Farm LLC near Racine. The family has 100 Dorset and Dorset Advantage sheep with a few black-faced sheep thrown in. The other 50% of the farm LLC is divided equally between their four sons: Brock, Brody, Braeden and Braxton.

Erickson has been teaching in agriculture classrooms since 2001.

“Being able to talk about the day-to-day experiences that I have out here (on the farm) in the classroom so many times is so important for them to understand the lesson,” Erickson said.

Initially, after college, Erickson sold feed, but he became disillusioned with corporate politics. As a result, he went back to college for teaching.

“I had a really good ag teacher,” Erickson said. “FFA was just real positive to me. So, with that being the feeling that I had, it was natural for me to pursue it.”

Today, teaching in a school district with students from agriculture backgrounds, he said farming helps him gain their respect.

“I’m not just reading it out of a book,” Erickson said. “I didn’t just learn this in college. This is what I’m doing. I’m doing this every single day. … I understand the struggles.”

Erickson also brings his students to the farm through leasing. Erickson prioritizes leasing sheep to youth without a farm connection. As part of the lease, the students help with chores and more.

“They’ve been given at least that opportunity,” Erickson said. “Some of them take it to another level, … but sometimes, it’s just a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Erickson also provides sheep to the Stewartville FFA Livestock Judging Invitational annual practice contest. Last year’s event had over 500 students participate.

“Any way that we can try to help with some form of people getting education, that’s our goal,” Erickson said. “My goal as a teacher and an educator is to always give the youth an opportunity.”

Erickson also has students from Rochester Community and Technical College’s veterinary tech program out to the farm each semester if possible. Students help with tagging and vaccinations and learn the realities of on-farm life.

“(Previously), they’ve seen everything by the book,” Erickson said.

Local youth are not the only ones to receive on-farm opportunities. Erickson has used the farm to train his sons as well. They have each used their ownership within the farm LLC to complete FFA Career Development Events, and Brody just received his American FFA Degree.

“(I’m proud of) the fact that we’ve been able to get all four boys to become part of it and to become active owners,” Erickson said. “When it’s time to go out and do chores, it’s not my chores that we’re going to do. It’s our chores.”

Braeden and Braxton, the two youngest, are still active in FFA. As all the brothers have grown, they have found their farm niches. Their parents handle much of the day-to-day chores, while the brothers make breeding choices, help market the animals, do the bookwork and more.

“We really try to allow the boys to come up with ideas and implement things and do things how they think we need to,” Erickson said.

The Ericksons market their sheep for breeding stock and show as much as possible. This includes selling to local 4-H students as well as to breeders across the U.S.

“We’ve tried to get our genetics to be sought after,” Erickson said. “I think we’re at 17 states now that we’ve been able to move sheep to.”

He said his proudest moments with the sheep have been when he and his family have shown grand champion sheep at the Minnesota State Fair or made the 4-H purple ribbon auction with homebred animals.

The Ericksons use a blend of natural service, laparoscopic A.I. and embryo flushing to reach their genetics goals.

Animals that do not reach breeding stock standards are sold at live market or to individuals for direct-to-butcher. Erickson said he wants to increase his direct-to-butcher sales by breeding for appropriately-sized lambs to market for use in cultural holidays that include mutton.

Erickson’s sheep endeavors started around 1994, when his sister, Kathy, bought 10 Dorset ewes. After Kathy was no longer involved with the sheep, Erickson and his two brothers formed an LLC around 2000. Erickson later bought out his brothers and got his sons involved. Megan’s family, the Boehms, also have always been highly involved with sheep.

“We were big competitors at the state level for the white faced,” Erickson said. “There was quite a streak there, where it was either the Boehms or the Ericksons that had bred the white face champion lamb.”

Today, the Boehm herd is mostly incorporated into the Erickson herd. The Ericksons moved to the Boehm farmstead three and a half years ago. They still house 10 breeding stock of the original Boehm herd for their nephew.

Looking to the future, family is at the center of Erickson’s farming dreams.

“Hopefully we can keep this together so that there will someday be another generation that, at least in some way, shape or form, still has some way of being involved in agriculture,” Erickson said.