A Needle in a Haystack at The Minnesota Zoo - Minnesota Zoo's Family Farm collection - Brief Article

Parks & Recreation, Sept, 2000

Giraffes, tigers, elephants ... these are the kind of exotic creatures most of us expect to find at a zoo. But at the Minnesota Zoo's new Family Farm exhibit, domestic animals are the stars. The farm features rare and endangered breeds like American Cream draft horses and boasts the world's first bovine clone.

"The Zoo's mission is to strengthen the bond between people and the living earth, and although it's sometimes taken for granted, our closest connection is with domestic animals," says Lars Erdahl, vice president of education at the Zoo. "We rely on them each and every day in some way --for food or other products." Guests can see sheep-shearing, animal grooming and horseshoeing, and many of the demonstrations are geared towards kids.

In fact, the farm project began as a replacement for the aging Children's Zoo, and includes interactive displays and other kid-friendly features like fiberglass animals with "windows" to show how food travels through. "Kids learn most intensely when they are playing," Erdahl says. "As a result, we included interactive play-learning structures so that they could have fun while they are learning about the different areas of the farm." And there are many areas to explore, such as a grain elevator, chicken house, machine shed and the dairy barn, one of the last traditional gambrel-roofed structures built in the state.

The Wells Fargo Family Farm is a real working farm, painstakingly created by a team of artisans and experts to give the public an idea of agricultural life. Building traditional structures which could withstand the wear and tear of up to a million visitors per year posed just one of the challenges.

To include both entertainment and education, the Zoo's creators also consulted an array of teachers and farmers. "During the time that we were coming up with plans for this project, we talked to a lot of farmers, as well as students and educators," says Jim Streater, acting director of biological programs at the Minnesota Zoo. "We found that everyone wanted to have the exhibit explain how the food on their table was raised on a farm. The way it happens today is different from how it happened fifty years ago and one hundred years ago. We want to tell the true story of agriculture's past, present, and future.

"Connecting with other farmers, agricultural producers, and farming organizations was a big part of this project," Streater says. "We want to show how farmers themselves are committed to lifelong learning."

And the Family Farm does more than just inform and entertain the public; its collection of rare and endangered animals helps to preserve these creatures for the future. Rhode Island Red chickens and Dutch Belted cows were once common on America's farms, but technological innovations and a shift towards breed specialization earlier in the century caused the populations of many breeds to dwindle.

Though there isn't much market demand for these rare varieties, they represent crucial scientific value for today's farm animals. "Right now, these breeds have unique genetic packages that we can identify and say `This one has good maternal skills, this one has no birthing problems, this one has parasite resistance,'" explains Marjorie Bender, program coordinator with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. "By identifying desirable attributes within a rare breed we can introduce them into currently popular breeds, creating a healthier population of production animals less inclined toward diseases and other problems introduced by a narrow genetic base. However constant care must be taken not to lose the purebreds." Preserving these old fashioned purebreds is one of the Family Farm's most important functions, but the farm also houses some very modern animals.

Everyone has heard of Dolly the sheep, but how about Gene, or Cookies and Cream? Gene (get the joke?) is the world's first bovine clone. Born in 1997, Gene grew up to be a two thousand-pound bull and is now on loan to the Zoo from ABS Global, the company who produced him. ABS' former sister company, Infigen, Inc., completed the exhibit by donating Cookies and Cream, two Holstein cows who are exact duplicates of each other, made from the cells of a single founder animal. Together with Gene, these identical heifers make up the first permanent public display of clones anywhere, and represent the scientific breakthroughs which will help shape the future of farming.

Future and past, progress and preservation, science and agriculture: the Wells Fargo Family Farm illustrates for its guests the contrasts of a diversified family farm. And that's no pig in a poke.