Reflections on my Second SAE Visit

 It is crazy to think that we have just over a month left of our student teaching experience! Time has been flying by and we will be finding our own classrooms in no time. As I look back on the experiences that I have had at Biglerville, I am very thankful that I was able to student teach at a program that is involved in such a wide variety of Supervised Agricultural Experience projects. One of the most interesting projects that I was able to visit was a student that had a placement SAE at the local dairy farm. 

Dairy is not a huge industry here in Biglerville, in-fact, there is only one dairy farm in the area. This dairy farm is very supportive of the agriculture program at Biglerville and even hires a handful of students to help with milking. 

While visiting the dairy farm, I was able to see all of the aspects of the farm that our students are involved in. This included milking cow, feeding cow, cleaning barns, and taking care of the calves. As someone who does not have a strong background in dairy, I found it very interesting to listen to my students talk about an industry and professional that they were very knowledgeable about. For example, until we had toured this dairy farm, I was unaware of the fact that many farms used bands on cows legs in order to communicate specific milking instructions to workers. My students were very knowledgable about what each band color and location meant for each of the cows. I was then able to take this learning opportunity and share this knowledge with the students I was teaching in my large animal care class. 

Throughout my time at Biglerville, I have learned a lot about the many unique SAEs that students can have throughout their time here. We have students who work on tree farms, elk farms, at local food businesses, and at family owned businesses. It has been great to hear about how students have found a passion for their SAE and how they hope to use the knowledge and experience in their future. 

As an educator, it has also been a great opportunity to really learn through my students experiences and expand my own knowledge on the agriculture industry. In the future, I hope to encourage my students to seek out these uniques SAE experiences and find what makes them passionate about agriculture.