From Green Blazers To Blue Corduroys

Being an Ag Teacher is just Ewe-tastic SAE Visits Filled with Sheep Finishing up my student teaching experience I got a chance to do a final SAE Visit. Two brothers that I had the privilege to teach this semester both raise sheep on the farm that I am staying at and so I had the chance to meet up with them and learn more about their operation. Both brother's share the responsibilities of raising the animals.  Often one of their parents will tag along but what I saw was more student working while the parent was supervising and making sure that the animals were being cared for.  This made me think that this experience was student driven which is a plus on an SAE visit.   Tried to take a picture of one of the lambs it decided that it wanted to try my phone as a mid day snack Both boys raise sheep (primarily cross-breeds they told me) with a collection of Ewes, Weathers  (or soon to be), Rams, and lambs.  When I asked one brother a question he wou...

Alpacas and Cattle on this Exciting SAE Visit Reflective Blog Post on the Implementation of SAE Visits Part Two Visit Two: Dairy Placement For this visit we got to visit one of my students at her family Dairy Farm.  This visit I got the chance to see a student hard at work on her families dairy. This student showed me every aspect of her family's dairy operation and explained to me how at each aspect she plays a role in that side of the operation. We went in the milking parlor, walked around the calf hutches, went to where they keep the heifers and young bulls, to where they keep the cows nice and happy.  I got to see how she operates all aspects of the farm. Probably the best part of this observation with this student was seeing how she is thinking about what can she do to improve her farm after she graduates high school.  When asked about different ways this SAE has helped her she told me it made her see value in gaining additional experience to improve the ...

Alpacas and Cattle on this Exciting SAE Visit Reflective Blog Post on the Implementation of SAE Visits Part One Visit One: Bent Pine Alpaca Farm For this SAE visit I got the chance to visit and work with two individuals at once. Two of the students at Cumberland Valley both work at the Bent Pine Alpaca Farm.  Here they both have "Exotic Animal" SAE Projects where they raise and maintain alpacas.  This SAE for both of them started off as 4-H animals but then progressed once they got to high school to be full fledge FFA SAE projects. Prior to the trip we coordinated with both students to make sure they were there and ready for our visit.  Prior to the trip I got the addresses of both visits and collected a notepad and pen so I could take notes while I was on the road as well. The primary goal of this trip was to record information for them to both work on possible proficiency applications.  What I enjoyed about the visit was getting to see the work ethic the ...