A Pig-ture Perfect SAE Visit

-

For my second SAE visit, I had the chance to visit Andy's SAE. Andy is a sophomore at Northwestern Senior High School who is currently serving as the Albion FFA Junior Treasurer. He is active within the agriculture education program and the FFA chapter, and always has a "can do" attitude towards all his assignments and officer tasks.

Before visiting Andy, Mr. Honeycutt and I talked to him about a date and time that would work for him and his family so that we could come visit. Andy talks about his pigs in class often, so I knew he would be happy we took the time to come see his project.




Andy's pigs are an entrepreneurship/ownership SAE where he is raising two pigs. He got the pigs when they were three months old. He has plans to butcher one of the pigs and use the money from the first pig to pay to have the second pig butchered as well. During our visit, we met with Andy's family members and they discussed the progress Andy has been making with his pigs and the trials and tribulations they have navigated along the way - like their barn being built on railroad stone, which leads the pigs digging up rocks and stones.




Andy has been working diligently to make sure his pigs are growing at the correct rate and they are healthy. He says that his favorite thing about working with his pigs is, "how they use me as a scratching post and are always happy to see me."

My suggestion for Andy is to figure out a more efficient way to water his pigs. Currently, he and his family have to fill totes and buckets and store them in the barn so they can use them to water the pigs, but in the cold winter months, this can be challenging especially with the snow and the fact that the water can freeze. I suggested to him that running a hose to the barn could be a possible solution.

All in all, Andy has a solid SAE project and I am excited to see the progress he makes as the pigs get older and he continues making project towards FFA degrees and awards.


Thank you for your endless support,

Ms. Cusate

Comments

  1. LetotMarch 16, 2023 at 5:39 AM

    rainwater collection barrel that send water into the barn? Are there little mini grants for him to apply for to get one? Either way, sounds like it was an awesome visit!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome!

-
Image
  I'm So Happy You Are Here! Hello! My name is Nicolette Cusate and I am currently a junior majoring in Agricultural and Extension Education at The Pennsylvania State University ! Over the next year and a half and beyond, I will be sharing my goals, challenges , learning curves, and victories with all of you as I navigate my journey to become the best agricultural educator I can be for my students !      A Little Bit About Me   I grew up outside of Berwick, Pennsylvania with my mother, father, and sister. Growing up, I l ov ed to play outside . I had a deep love for nature and was always collect ing leaves, rocks, and bugs. My parents bought me educational books to learn about all the things I would find outside. I didn't grow up on a farm, but I knew from a young age that I loved learning about the natural world. I attended Nescopeck Elementary and Berwick Middle School before moving to Danville, Pennsylvania in 2012.    Now, my favorite ho...
Read more

Two Science Classrooms - Twice the Fun!

-
Image
What was your favorite subject in high school? Mine was agriculture (obviously), but if I had to pick a core class, it would be science. It's no surprise though, because agriculture education and science go hand-in-hand. In fact, agriculture education is basically applied STEM education. Pretty cool, right? I loved Chemistry when I was in high school, so much so that I had a short stint in college as a Chemistry minor. However, I quickly realized that it would be significantly harder than I thought - but I still love that branch of science and learning about it! At Northwestern, we have a bunch of awesome science teachers, so imagine my excitement when I had the opportunity to observe not one, but TWO science teachers in our building!  First up was Dr. Cinda Murray, the Chemistry teacher at Northwestern. Dr. Murray is also engaged in the Global Learning in Agriculture (GLAG) Community with me, so we shared a common thread from the beginning. The GLAG Community was developed by the ...
Read more