Cattlewomen program brings local beef to school

A small rural school of 160 students, K through 12, in Hulett, is the recipient of a new program this year thanks to our local Crook County Cattlewomen. Instead of the highly processed soy-based meat traditionally served for the lunch program, students and staff now enjoy locally grown pure beef. We believe when kids eat better, they learn better.

The head cook, Julie Bauman, currently receives far more compliments from both staff and students when they serve the donated beef for lunch. Supersizing, when students go back for seconds, has more than doubled from the soy-based meat previously served.

And the lunch count has increased with older students staying at school for their meals. According to Julie, “When you know where your food comes from, you know you are making a healthier choice, and you just feel good about eating it.”

The Crook County Cattlewomen started a pilot program “Beef for the Hulett School” in the spring of 2018. With the program mirrored after a similar program in Montana, it has been well received.

The Crook County School District was in favor of the program and advised that Hulett typically goes through 700 pounds of beef a year. The Cattlewomen sent out 50 letters to local Hulett area ranchers, telling them about the program and asking them to donate a beef, meat (USDA Certified), or money to the school.

The Cattlewomen were notified when a rancher wanted to donate. The Cattlewomen then notified the school of the donation.

The rancher arranged a time and date with Sturgis Meat Service (USDA Certified) for processing. When processing is complete, the Hulett School picked up the beef, which is stored at the Central Office due to limited freezer space in the small Hulett School.

As the lunch program needs beef, it’s transferred to the school by the school’s head maintenance man, Ted Bears. The school district has received a grant from the state of Wyoming to help pay the processing fees.

To date we’ve had four head of cattle sent to Sturgis for processing. They were donated by Jim and Roxie Dacar of Colony, DJ and Natalie Wolfskill, Tom and Donna Wolf, and the FA Bush Ranch all of Hulett.

The Hulett School also set up an account for any monetary donations to help with future costs. We have had three generous donations from Jensen Livestock of Colony, Ted and Joellen Parsons of Hulett and Ben and Amy Pravecek of Alva.

If a beef was donated, but needed to be fed out, the Hulett School FFA program would be able to buy feed and feed out the beef with these donations. If needed, donations can also be used for processing.Market steers, open heifers, cull cows and cull bulls are the types of beef requested for donation. The steers and heifers are processed for ground beef, roasts and select cuts, while the cull cows and bulls are mostly used for hamburger. The roasts will be used for shredded beef recipes for special school functions.

Please keep in mind, in order to keep the program running we will always need more donations! Anyone wishing to donate can contact Cattlewomen Criss Neiman (467-5245) or Tracy Bush (467-5352).