Supervised Agricultural Experiences: Schuykill County Fair

Thursday, July 31st, 2014: The day started out a little stressful - after sending the Gov. School scholars off to their class I headed to get my first car rental and start my solo road-trip down to the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds. After a relaxing (eventually) three hour car ride, I arrived at one of my first Pennsylvania county fairs. The familiar smell of fair food and livestock automatically confirmed that this was going to be a great day.

Display for the Tri Valley FFA Chapter in the family tent

I found Mrs. D (Mrs. Dingman but all her students affectionately call her Mrs. D) in the livestock barns right where I knew she'd be. Today was my SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) visit and it was also the Fair's sale day, so it was a big day for many of the FFA members busily milling about the barn. Mrs. D explained to me that a majority of her students have SAE projects, most of which are livestock which the students then show and sell at the fair. The first hour or so I was there, Mrs. D had logistics she had to handle as she is on the County Fair board, so she introduced me to several of her students and left me with them to show me around.

The livestock barns were filled with families - almost every student I talked to had several relatives also showing against them, either through the FFA or the local 4H club, which also meant I am going to have several sets of siblings and cousins in my classrooms. The students were represented in every species at the fair - rabbits, goats, sheep, beef and dairy-beef cattle, and hogs. After talking to the students for awhile I started talking to several of the parents and other family members that were in the barn, letting the students get back to preparing for the sale that evening. All the parents welcomed me into their school, and raved about Mrs. D's dedication to the FFA and her involvement in the students' lives. Many of the parents had grown up in the area and had gone through the agricultural education program (before Mrs. D arrived) and you could see the pride they had in watching and supporting their children in participating in the various FFA events, including showing livestock.

Mrs. D soon arrived back and we went over logistics of the fair and she explained her SAE policy. Students in her agriculture classes are encouraged but not required to have SAE projects, but her FFA members are, and most already come to the program with potential projects started because of livestock projects. To handle SAE visits, she has a form the students complete before the end of the school year, which has a list of dates the students can choose from where she will visit with them and check up on their projects. Most of her visits were earlier in the summer as the students were preparing for fair, and operated very similar to my experience with the parents in the barn - Mrs. D checks out the student's project(s) and then catches up with the student and their family, learning about how their summer is going and any life updates. SAE visits for her are very informal and she uses them mostly to stay updated and involved in her students' lives and keep in contact with the families. 

Working with other volunteers to register buyers for the sale

I had previously told Mrs. D that I wanted to be right by her side and experience everything she does as the agriculture teacher, so after going over her SAE process and grabbing some of the great fair food, Mrs. D told me that since she was on the fair board I would be helping her get the arena set up for the sale and then helping her, the 4H leader and several other volunteers keep records during the sale. I'd been to several sales before, mostly at the PA Farm Show, so I thought this county fair sale would be an easy night for me - boy was I wrong. After helping the FFA and 4H members set up the sale ring I began helping to register buyers, keeping track of all the paperwork and buyer numbers. I never expected so many buyers, over 200, for a fair of this size but I was happily mistaken. Community members from all over the county were there to help support the youth involved in agriculture, through their kind words and buying of animals.

The fast-talking auctioneer I had to keep up with

After registering all of the buyers came the hardest part - keeping track of sale prices and buyers of the livestock. Elbow to elbow with Mrs. D, the 4H leader, and several other volunteers, all our focus was on the auctioneer just a few feet away to make sure we kept accurate records. The next few hours flew by and after over eight hours at the fair, I finally had to start my journey home. It was a great day of being thrown right back into the livestock world, getting to meet future students and their families, and meeting key community members, like the 4H leader, that I know will be really helpful when I begin my semester there.

The view of the crowd from behind the sale arena

One of my students & one of his Grand Champion rabbits

I can't wait to work with those students more, especially during my animal science courses and getting to know them more through future SAE visits. My day ended with the sale continuing in my rear view mirror, my car filled with the smell of livestock and hay, and my radio blasting the local country station, and I could not have had a better way to end July.

Loved this FFA member's confidence as she walked into the sale arena!