Super Smart Farm Show

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're taking a big whiff as we try to figure out why farms smell so funny in the spring. Spring is a time for all sorts of scents. Some are pleasant, like the smell of fresh flowers in bloom. But others are a little more pungent … like the smell of a farm while farmers prepare their fields for growing season. By why do farms smell so funky in the spring? Bey...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're springing into action to find out if dandelions are really that bad or if they just get a bad rap. Dandelions are one of the first signs of spring, but many people see them as annoying weeds that need to be removed from yards, fields and gardens. But why all the hate? Could those little yellow flowers actually provide some benefits? Join host Elmer and...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're trotting out to the field to figure out why there are so many different words for cows. What's the difference between a cow and a heifer? What about a steer and a bull? And what exactly is a bovinae? Join host Elmer and Brody the beef steer as they discuss why cattle go by different names and why having those different names are important for farmers....

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're putting away our winter coats and rolling up our sleeves to figure out how farmers know when it's time to plant corn. If farmers plant corn too early, cold weather will keep it from growing. But if they wait too long, they won't be able to grow as much. So how do farmers know when the time is right to get those seeds in the ground? Join host Elmer and...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're in done chasing our tails — it's time to figure out how herding dogs work. How do herding dogs know how to move cattle and sheep around? Have they learned how to speak sheep or cow? Is it special training? Or is there something else going on here? Join host Elmer and Ollie the dog as they discuss how dogs help farmers take care of their herds. Do you h...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're looking for early signs of spring — specifically the arrival of spring flowers like daffodils. There's nothing like seeing the first daffodils, crocuses or aconites popping up to signal that spring has arrived. But how do those flowers know it's time to start growing? Do they have tiny, underground calendars? Or is there something else going on in the...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're talking about eggs. More specifically, we're talking about what happens inside of eggs before chicks are ready to hatch. What's going on inside an unhatched egg? What does it take to make a chick? Once they're formed, are chicks inside of eggs aware of the outside world? And how do they know it's time to hatch? Join host Elmer and Henrietta the chicken...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, it's about time we settled the debate: Does daylight saving time actually help farmers? Why do we set the clock forward an hour in the spring and backward in the fall? Does it really have anything to do with farming? Or, could it be that daylight saving time doesn't really help farmers at all? Join host Elmer and Bessie the cow as they figure out why we insi...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, it's time to head over to the dairy farm to see why calves are kept in little houses.  Have you ever visited or driven by a dairy farm and noticed small houses dotting the landscape? Those are calf hutches and farmers use them to help baby calves grow big, strong and healthy. They also keep calves warm and dry during cold and wet weather and offer them shade...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're holding our noses and diving into a stinky subject: managing manure on the farm. The truth is, cows, chickens, horses and other farm animals poop and it can pile up quickly if farmers don't take care of the situation. But what do they do with all that manure? They can't flush it away! Instead, farmers use a variety of techniques to manage manure so the...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're getting revved up over the idea that some tractors are like computers on wheels. Tractors have always been one of the most powerful machines you'll find on a farm, but these days tractors have as much brains as they do brawn. Smart technology like GPS, environmental sensors and auto-steer mean these tractors are taking in information and making decisio...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're taking a break from having snowball fights to talk about how snow helps farmers. When some people see snow, they think about fun things, like snowmen and sledding. Others see snow and think about all the extra work that comes with it, like shoveling. But how do farmers feel about snow? Does it just mean a lot of extra work or could there be some benefi...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're hunkering down to escape the cold and snow as we learn what farmers do during the winter. In the wintertime, it's easy to look at farms and think nothing's going on. The crops have all been harvested and the tractors put away. But the truth is, there's always something to do on a farm. So what are farmers doing during the coldest months of the year?  J...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're venturing into the dark to shed some light how farmers grow mushrooms. Most plants and crops need sunlight to grow, but not mushrooms. Mushrooms thrive in the dark, so the farmers who grow them keep them in special buildings where they can control the amount of light. But that's not the only thing that makes growing mushrooms different than growing cor...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're heading out to the pig pen to find out if pigs are really as dirty as they seem. There's no question about it: Pigs love the mud. But why? Is it simply because mud is fun? Or is there more to it than that? Could all that mud actually be helping pigs? Join host Elmer and Piper the pig as they get to the bottom of why pigs love mud. Do you have a questio...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're taking a trip to the library to check out one of our favorite farming books, 'Charlotte's Web,' by E.B. White. Generations of children have loved the story of Wilbur the pig and Charlotte the spider, but just how realistic is the farm portrayed in ' Charlotte's Web ?' How did E.B. White know how to write about farm animals? Do pigs really go to county...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're bundling up in our hats and scarves and then heading out to the barn to find out how farm animals stay warm in the winter. Cows don't wear coats and coal stoves aren't safe for the barn. So how do animals stay warm during the winter? It turns out, they're able to stay nice and toasty thanks to some natural defenses against the cold and with help from f...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're stopping by the chicken coop to learn why chickens and roosters are such a chatty bunch. Chickens and roosters make all kinds of sounds, but what are they trying to say? What's the difference between a gentle cluck and an ear-splitting squawk? And did you know that chickens and roosters make different noises in different languages? Join host Elmer and...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, it's time to head out to the Christmas tree farm to pick out the perfect Christmas tree. Christmas tree farmers put in a lot of work to make their farms welcoming places during the holidays, but they work even hard all year round to get their trees ready for Christmas. How long do they care for those trees before they're ready to be cut? And what happens to...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're heading out to the barn to learn all about how tractors power the tools they pull behind them, from balers to tillers. Tractors pull a variety of tools behind them, but tractors engines, the source of these tools' power, are all the way up front. So how does the power from the engine travel all the way back to those tools? The answer lies in a tractor...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're trotting out to the stables to discover why horses wear horseshoes. There's nothing like the distinctive "clip-clop" of shoed horses, but why do they need shoes in the first place? Do all horses wear shoes? When you outgrow your shoes, it's time to head to the shoe store, but where do horses get their shoes? Join host Elmer and Poppy the pony as they f...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're getting our gobble on and looking at why we eat turkey on Thanksgiving. Nowadays, turkey is the star of the Thanksgiving table. But did you know that at the very first Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag in 1621, turkey was nowhere to be seen! What was eaten instead? And who do we have to thank for introducing turkey as our go-to Thanks...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're exploring how we get cheese from cows. We're all familiar with how we get milk from cows, but how does that milk turn into cheese? And who was the first person to look at milk and think, "Hey, what if we let this get chunky or stretchy?" Join host Elmer and Bessie the cow as they discuss how cheesemakers separate milk into curds and whey and discover t...

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're going underground to find out how soil helps plants grow. Listen as host Elmer and Sawyer the soil scientist talk about the tiny organisms and networks alive under our feet and learn the difference between soil and plain old dirt. 

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're taking a look back in history to find out what farmers did before tractors were invented. Listen as host Elmer and Wendy the farmer talk about the kinds of animals farmers used to plow fields and pull heavy loads — from horses to reindeer!