posted on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 in West Region News
It is not every day that students have two piglets visit their classrooms. Libbey Elementary second grade students and West Elementary third grade students recently had an opportunity to get a hands-on experience with piglets from AMVC’s sow farm and hear a presentation about modern pig farming from AMVC Management Services public relations coordinator, Alicia Humphrey.
Humphrey covered a range of topics with the students including animal housing, care, swine health and nutrition. The students watched several short video clips, so they could visually see what the inside of sow farms look like and how pigs are cared for on a modern farm. The students were very interested in learning about pigs and asked numerous questions throughout the fun-filled and educational afternoon.
Emilee Boyd and Mary Budd, AMVC Wyoming employees,accompanied Humphrey to the school visits. They helped thestudents pet the piglets and see them up close.
“Not many people know about pigs, so talking at the schools seemed like a great avenue to educate the kids,” said Boyd, assistant farrowing manager at AMVC Wyoming.
This was the first time piglets have been brought in to the classroom and many of the students first time touching a piglet.
Katherine Finnerty, third grade teacher at West Elementary, was appreciative of AMVC’s presentation and commented that since they do not have a lot of country kids this year, it was good to show them the importance of agriculture in the community and expose them to a potential job opportunity in the future in their town.
Budd, who has been an AMVC employee for four years, enjoyed having the opportunity to educate local students and see the excitement the students had to learn about what happens on the farm.
“It was great to see how the students reacted to the presentation and how they enjoyed their time with the piglets we brought. The curiosity of the kids was great,” commented Budd.
AMVC enjoys being a resource for local students and giving back to the community of Wheatland. After the presentation, bothpiglets were donated to a Platte County 4-H family who will be raising them and showing them at the county fair this summer.
AMVC owns and manages two sow farms in Wheatland and employs over 30 people in the community.