Capac program welcomes visitors

New FFA Barn on display at open house Saturday

CAPAC — Folks that are truly from Capac know the drill. Ask just about anyone, what does CAPAC stand for?

Cows And Pigs And Chickens.

Seriously. There are shirts and hats made that show that description. And people wear them, proudly.

At long last, after final details were hammered out and work was started, the new Capac FFA/Ag building is nearing completion.

Enough so that the district is planning an open house this coming weekend.

On Saturday, Nov. 16, from 1 until 4 p.m. Vistors to the event will be able to tour the buiilding, following a 12:30 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The 40 x 60 wood-framed structure, complete with space for livestock pens, concrete floor, automatic watering outlets and other features, is nearly finished. The new structure features spray foam insulation that along with a ceiling-mounted propane heater, will help keep the interior warmer.

There are still a few things to finish up, including indoor pens with access to outside fenced in areas for various kinds of livestock. But, the main jist of the barn will be open and ready for visitors come this weekend.

Travis Fahley, the Capac Ag/FFA instructor, has the students busy preparing for their open house and they are excited to show off the work the students and others have done.

“The kids have done a lot of the work, once the building was up,” Fahley said. “They have been involved right from the start. Planning. Designing. Doing the actual physical labor,” he said. “We wanted to show them the process from beginning to end. Kind of like making them stakeholders.”

Speaking of stakeholders, Fahley said there are several businesses and private individuals who have donated things such as feed, hay, water lines and automatic watering devices, gates and more.

“We have been very fortunate,” he said. “Once the district got the building up (with 2022 bond money) it’s been volunteers and stakeholders largely, that have made this happen. The district has been able to save alot of money, with the efforts of so many people who believe and support what we are doing.”

Cows? Yup. The program will be purchasing a young beef cattle for the students to raise in a large area adjacent to the new barn. They learn about nutrition, showing and care of the animal.

Pigs? Yup. The program has two female hogs they have bred offsight by stock from a local farmer and then the females are returned to a secondary barn on district property. As birthing time nears, students are responsible for the care of the pregnant momma, and eventually, her babies.

Chickens? Yup. The Capac FFA recently returned from a show for meat chickens, garnering good results. The students plan to continue to raise chickens and possibly sell some for fundraising and helping to support the program.

More than 100 students are involved in the Capac FFA/Ag program, although not all are as involved as others.

In an effort to be fiscally responsible, Fahley said the students took down a six-foot cyclone that enclosed the FFA property and reused it for pasture fencing to keep animals separated.

“They did all the work,” he said. “They took it down, pulled the poles and reinstalled it with wooden posts, giving our animals room for pastures and a space to work on showing animals.”

The program is working on finishing touches including students Wiley Roose and Joe Dalessandro who were hanging steel inside the new building last week.

Meanwhile, juniors Robert Rowley and Luca Longo and others were pounding fencing staples into the wooden posts that support the repurposed fencing.

Fahley is relatively new to the Capac program, stepping in for former leader Sam DePrekel.

“Sam was a big help to us during the transition,” Fahley said. “She and some other people did a lot of planning for this barn. “We’re all pretty excited about seeing it come to life.”

Fahley has five Ag classes he teaches in a classroom, along with the time spent outdoors in both the new barn and the previous FFA barn that is located closer to the school.

“That was huge, for the district to decide we could keep the old barn too,” he said.. “That is where we will keep the chickens and our two sows (pregnant females) ‘Agnus and Bertha’ until they have their babies.”

As an example of the community involvement, Fahley said, “We received a $10,500 grant from L & L Automotive in Romeo for the program. Culvers has been a big supporter of FFA in general, across the country and we have several folks who have or are contributing financially. We call them our stakeholders. It’s a great partnership.”

The Capac program and facility is the only one of it’s kind in St. Clair County. Students from other St. Clair County school districts are allowed to take part in the program.