Feeding the Operation - SAE Visit

Today I had the opportunity to visit with one of my students who's SAE is dairy placement, where his main responsibility is feeding and milking as needed. He is currently enrolled in my Ag Science 3 class where we focus mainly on agronomic principles, something that he seems to have an interest in as well.

As always I was amazed by the sincerity and knowledge that this student poses. As we were walking around the dairy operation searching for our student, who was already hard at work, we had the opportunity to speak with his employer who seemed extremely satisfied with his work ethic, dedication, and respect for the job. Additionally the owner seemed excited that Aiden was receiving this visit and guidance.

We soon located Aiden down by the silos preparing the daily feed rations. We began asking him about what he does here which stemmed into other questions about the hows and the whys of the operation. As we spoke with Aiden it was apparent that he is truly enjoying his job despite the possible unglamorous nature.

As we spoke with him he began to explain the amperage of the silo unloader and was eager to show and explain the use of the equipment. In addition, as we were chatting about his project and getting a feel for his responsibilities the shoot became clogged as a large chunk of silage fell into it. Aiden was quick to shut off the breaker for the unloader and proceeded to fix the problem without hesitation.

Once things were running smoothly again we spoke to him about the lack of records recorded on AET, something that I checked prior to the visit. He already knew they were not there and explained how this is a new SAE and he was unsure of the procedures and duties when he started so he hadn't started logging information, but he assured me that he would begin soon. This is something that we provided as a recommendation for improvement and we were excited to hear that Aiden would be continuing this job during the summer and expanding his responsibilities to helping with the crop production side of the operation.

When we look at a grade for the SAE program this is where things get a little tricky. All students in the Ag Science 3 course are highly encouraged to have an SAE and keep records, however the SAE is only graded if they are also signed up for the "SAE" course as well. Students are required to keep a daily class log that gives them a greater knowledge and appreciation for record keeping, but as we know is not an SAE, something that is typically competed outside of class time.

Overall this is a great example of the power of SAE, this students is not only getting real world experience but he is taking feed ration data and applying it on the farm. At this point Aiden is not apart of creating the rations but it is something that he has expressed as an interest for the future. In addition, he is learning about feed composition, he is troubleshooting, working on mechanics, and gaining work experience.

If you ask Aiden what he does for his placement SAE he wold tell you that he feeds cows, but there is so much more to it than that. This student sits in my class everyday and I imagine, oh he feeds cows after school,which is just the beginning of what this students it doing, he is problem solving, developing his mechanical knowledge, enhancing his understand of feeding rations, attaining experience working with equipment, networking with the community, and engaging in an interest all while gaining practical 21st century skills.

As I said students continue to amaze me, they don't even know the knowledge that the are learning and the skills that they have but when you start asking the right questions the abidance of knowledge is evident.

The visit ended with handshake, a professional symbol of appreciation in my mind. The power of SAE was at large today as I learned a little bit more about feed rations and the feeding side of a dairy operation and was able to gain another perspective of this student.

till next time...