Catching up on the CV Ag Science Action!

 Since my last post, many exciting events have gone on both inside and outside of the classroom! Let's jump back to the All-American to begin this recap...

Group photo from the All-American.

2nd place Dairy Management
Team

After preparing a Dairy Management Team and a Dairy Judging Team to compete at the 50th All-American Dairy Show in their respective contests, the day had arrived to travel to Harrisburg for this milestone event.  The Dairy Judging Team judged 4 excellent classes of high-caliber cattle while the Dairy Management Team evaluated a class of cattle, interpreted DHIA benchmarks, identified common feedstuffs, and analyzed financial records.  When the dust settled, the Dairy Management Team placed 2nd in the FFA division and the Dairy Judging team members placed in the middle of the pack in their contest.  

Can you identify which feedstuff
has the highest source of rumen
digestible protein? This was one
of the stations during the Dairy
Management Contest.

Meanwhile, back in the classroom, students in Growing our Agricultural Leaders (GOAL) were busy planning the 2nd annual YOLO (Youth Overnight Leadership Operation) that is being hosted by CV FFA.  This 'lock-in' type event is aimed to be a recruitment event for new FFA members to give them a taste of the organization and to meet the upperclassmen within the chapter.

Students in CASE Animal Science began Unit 2 which investigated the classification of animals.  Several activities and projects allowed students to explore the scientific classification of a chosen animal that they will use for their Producer's Management Guide, which is a year-long project that will be completed piece by piece throughout the school year.  Another project included creating a dichotomous key to classify 10 breeds of livestock--quite a challenge, but the students stepped up and completed the task with precision and accuracy.

Student project from Activity 2.2.2
"Creature Classification."

In CASE Introduction to Ag, Food, and Natural Resources (AFNR), students continued to learn about the 3 circles of Agriculture Education, specifically the FFA organization.  Students investigated the components of FFA Official Dress, gained knowledge in FFA history, and successfully completed portions of 10 CDE (Career Development Event) stations to get a feel for what competitions exist at the local, state, and national levels.  In addition, these students also successfully started their first SAE (Supervised Agriculture Experience) for their time in Intro to AFNR.  Students are currently learning about how to begin an SAE within their interests outside of class time.  Some SAE ideas from students were raising quail, home improvement projects, and shadowing a veterinary technician! It will be awesome to see how these individual SAEs develop over the course of the year.

Project 2.2.3. Key to Breeds.
Students created a
dichotomous key to identify
10 breeds of dairy, beef,
sheep, swine, and goats.

And what would a week be without wrangling some sheep and alpacas for a petting zoo at a football game?  With the help of some dedicated FFA members, CV FFA hosted a farm animal education area as part of CV THON's tailgate before the home football game.  Sadie the sheep enjoyed her change of scenery while being transported to the event!

Sadie the sheep gets to
ride in style on the way to
the 'big show.'

Some highlights of the upcoming week include training the Agricultural Issues team for National Convention, preparing students for the Stockman's Contest at the Keystone International Livestock Expo, and continuing discussions surrounding animal welfare and animal rights in CASE Animal Science.  Several lively and thought-provoking discussions have taken place thus far and each day, students become more and more engaged in this unit that is focused on developing questioning skills and understanding personal opinions.



To follow more adventures of the Cumberland Valley Agriculture Science program and FFA chapter, please visitwww.cvschools.org/Ag and www.cvschools.org/FFA.  Follow the chapter on Twitter with the handle @CV_FFA.