For my second SAE visit, we went to check on a students steer that he is raising to show at the Troy Fair. This student's family owns a local butcher shop, so we met the student there and then walked across the road to his steer pen. Everyone takes Troy Fair pretty seriously, and this student is no different! He is currently raising two steers, and will then take whichever one is in weight and looking the best to the fair. He is keeping records on both steers, and will sell the one that doesn't make it to the fair elsewhere.
This visit went much like our other visit. We talked to the student and asked him questions about how often he works with his steers, when he last weighed them, and what they weighed at that time. We also discussed his expenses, and clarified some questions he had about accurately keeping those records. Then we began talking with him and asking which steer he felt was going to do better at this time. He had one that had a better demeanor, however he felt the other steer was of higher quality.
Unlike my first visit, this student had been working on his steer project for years. It started with his older siblings, and continued down the line with him. He has a lot of support from his family, and is able to work in exchange for the feed expenses.
Just like our first visit, before leaving we set up a time to work individually with the student to help him transfer over to AET record keeping as opposed to the old Pennsylvania record keeping system.
Of course, before we left, we had to stop in their shop and pick up some of their locally famous beef sticks! They were great!
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