By Garrett Christensen on Monday, December 12th, 2022 in Northeastern Oregon News
ELGIN – The Elgin FFA Program has received a $3,000 dollar donation from Mark Coomer of NW Farm Credit Union. The grant will go toward purchasing panels and show supplies for the program and will allow greater student involvement in livestock showing. According to Elgin ag teacher and FFA advisor, Daniel Bolen, Elgin FFA students’ involvement in livestock showing has “grown considerably” since the summer of 2021 when the program was donated an entire flock of twelve show ewes (female sheep), with several students even exhibiting lambs last year.
Bolen noted the Elgin FFA have plans to further expand the program into livestock related fields, with murmurs of an entirely new facility for Elgin’s ewes. In the meantime, the Elgin and Imbler FFA programs have been investing into ultrasound technology for the evaluation of livestock carcasses. This venture comes from a massive $250,000 dollar grant that the programs received in January, with both Bolen and Imbler’s FFA advisor, JD Cant, pursuing training and certification in the field.