Ag Day lassos a crowd on Quad
Utah State University students got their chance to go for their eight seconds of fame while bull riding at Ag Day on Wednesday.
Many students took their turn at trying to ride the mechanical bull while others relaxed on the Quad during the day.
Nate Neagle, an undeclared freshman, and his friends stopped for Ag Day because they thought it looked fun as they walked through the Quad after class.
Neagle managed to get some chaps from Jeffery Hall to wear as he rode the bull. Hall is a rodeo club coach and professor in the animal, dairy and veterinary science department. Neagle said his favorite part of the day was wearing the chaps.
Neagle’s friend, Jared Shaw, a freshman in animal science, taught him how to rope last week. They plan on continuing to improve their rodeo skills, Shaw said.
“I’m going to start riding bulls next week,” he said.
Students also got to try hauling hay and another rodeo event known as team roping. All of the activities were free.
Team ropers work together to catch a calf, one person roping it around the head and another catching its hind legs. At Ag Day, the students roped a calf dummy.
Many students said they became addicted to the different sports, staying on the Quad all morning working at their skills. Even President Kermit L. Hall got in on the activities by trying out the team roping.
Cort Jones, a junior in liberal arts and sciences, and Austin Wadsworth, a junior in physical therapy, spent the majority of their time at the team roping area. Both students have participated regularly in rodeos.
“It’s kind of like a big family, you do it so much and you’re always around the same people,” Wadsworth said.
The hay hauling activity required students to move a stack of hay bales from one square to another in the fastest time. The winners received T-shirts.
The two main groups involved in Ag Day, as well as Ag Week, were the Agricultural Technology Club and the Rodeo Club.
Randy Thompson, Agricultural Technology Club president, brought up the four tractors seen around campus this week.
As part of their activities, the club restores old, broken-down tractors, he said. The club also goes to the Midwest and tours the major tractor factories every other year.
Thompson said he felt Ag Week was important for students to participate in.
“It’s mostly just to get everyone on campus aware of what we do,” Thompson said.
Students from the rodeo club were milling about during Ag Day, ready to sell students tickets to their rodeo this weekend.
The rodeo competitors are from colleges in Idaho and Utah. The rodeo will be Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Bodie Keetch, a junior in agricultural business, said he felt Ag Day is a nice opportunity to increase understanding among students.
“It’s helping the kids have fun and helping them get a taste of agricultural life,” he said. “And it let’s everybody see that the cowboys aren’t all that different. They still know how to have some fun.”
Ag Day also included a pie-eating contest, sponsored by the family and consumer sciences department, and a chili cook-off.
Other organizations attending Ag Day included, 4-H, Food Science Club, Culinary Arts Club of USU, International Horse Show Association, Dietetics Club, Sheep Club of USU, Cattle Club of USU, Pre-veterinary Club and the department of animal, dairy and veterinary science. There were also DNA demonstrations by an agricultural lab and an exhibit on USU’s cloned mules.
– krasmus@cc.usu.edu
Students attempt to lasso the mechanical calf’s legs, following a successful roping of its head in a mock of the rodeo event known as team roping. This and other activities, such as bull riding, were a part of Ag Day on the Quad on Wednesday.
Todd Geddes almost Falls during a ride on the mechanical bull during the Ag Day activities. “It rides like hell fire,” he said.