By Lilah Heinz, Chapter Reporter | Special to the Times Vedette
ACGC FFA Advisor Skie Shull invited the new high school principal, Mr. Brian Sauser, to attend supervised agricultural experience (SAE) visits on Aug 15. One-hundred percent of the ACGC FFA Members carry out an SAE project throughout the course of the year on top of many other activities they are involved in. Out of the 53 high school members, 85% of members participate in at least one other school activity. An SAE allows students to apply what they have learned in the classroom in a real-world setting. This can range from production agriculture to service and education.
The day started off at a senior member’s house, Will Kading. Will is a six-year member of the FFA chapter and has a beef production SAE project. The base of his project started when he and his grandfather came to an agreement for him to start buying into the family herd. From there, it has grown to assets, more cattle, and helping out around other aspects of the farm including their row crop operations. Will has also taken on the chapter crop plot and managed it from a hay field to a successful row crop field. Mr. Sauser learned about the aspects of what it takes to operate a farm that is the scale of the Kading family.
The second stop of the day was to sophomore member, Nora Langgaard. Nora explained the importance of care for her growing dairy goat herd. She enlightened Mr. Sauser on the general care of her animals, as well as the plans for expanding her herd.
Following Nora, Sauser and Shull traveled to Gavin Sloss’ family farm. Here, we talked about his beef production project. Through this project, Gavin has learned about time management and responsibility, as he and his sister complete all of the work for the farm as well as the financial responsibility of owning and operating a cattle herd.
The last two visits of the day were to Lilah Heinz and Rylee Robson’s houses.
At the Heinz farm, we learned about poultry farming. Lilah holds a broiler production SAE project where she raises birds for harvest and sells within her community. She has grown her poultry herd from 25 birds to a rotation of 75 birds in a year. On top of this, she also has layer hens that she takes care of and shows at the local and state levels.
Rylee Robson has a swine production and beef production SAE project. This year, she has been successful with her swine projects at the local and state level showing at Guthrie County Fair and State Fair. Besides her swine projects, she also has market calves that she raises and sells for harvest after they reach market weight.
When asked about what he thought about the day, Mr. Sauser said, “It was great. I was so excited to go out there with Skie (Shull) to see some different kids and their different workplaces. And, you know, it’s amazing. You get out there talking to kids about what they’re doing, and one kid has 40 head of cattle and it’s like you’re talking to a 45- or 50-year-old man. It’s amazing the knowledge these kids have, and the other part that’s really good to see is just how involved these kids are in these projects and workplaces outside of school. It kind of gives you a whole different respect level for what these kids do when they’re not just inside the school walls.”
