The First SAE Visit!

On Wednesday, February 11th I had the chance to do my first SAE Visit of the semester! We went to visit TJ, a sophomore student who is doing an SAE project on his sows. TJ is an active Ag student who is also serving as an FFA officer this year. Our visit occurred at TJ’s home where we had the chance to meet his parents and brother while we were checking out the animals!

Before we went to visit we asked the student what dates worked best for them. We scheduled the visit and checked with both the student and parents to make sure it would work! We discussed what the student’s project was and about what we were going to look for while we were there. Some of the things that the students SAE would be evaluated on are the facilities, the animals and the future plans he has for his project and the success he has had so far. 

On Wednesday, my cooperating teacher Ms Aurand, the other FFA advisor Frank Bizjak and I loaded up in the FFA van and headed out to TJ’s home! We had the chance to talk to TJ and his family about the sows and the piglets and I even got to hold one of the cute little babies! One of the recommendations that were discussed during the visit was a suggestion to improve the facilities such as adding some more ventilation. We also had the chance to discuss TJ’s plans for all of the piglets once they are grown! 


Ms Aurand grades the students on their SAE projects through AET. Along with having at least one SAE visit, the students are required to keep records in AET. Each semester a portion of their class grade is based off of their daily records. All of the students are required to enter at least one entry per day throughout the entire school year. 

I truly enjoyed this SAE visit because it gave me the chance to see the students are work outside of the classroom. It was also great to get to meet some parents and get out into the community a little more!