Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
Being hands on in education is one of the best ways for students to learn and retain information, and at Billingsley School, hands-on learning in the agriscience curriculum is being taken to the next level with help from the Autauga Education Foundation or AEF.
Logan Strock, Billingsley’s agriscience and FFA advisor has taken the way he teaches to heart and recognized the immense impact of teaching agriscience in a rural community. Strock applied for a $5,000 grant through the AEF for a Bovine Injection Simulator for his class room.
“It was an easy decision to award a grant to Mr. Strock as the committee respects him as an educator. He was awarded the grant based on his proven track record of he and his students achieving applaudable outcomes and it’s important to marshal resources to all areas of the county, including rural areas,” AEF Chairman of the Board, Eric Jacks said.
Pam Frederick, the secretary for the AEF stated that the AEF strives to provide sustainable resources, build community and to ensure academic excellence for all students and schools in Autauga County.
“We feel it is important to support all our schools in whatever manner seems appropriate for the area. Billingsley School is located in a rural area. For many years, their agriscience program has been in the forefront of rural schools in Alabama. We were excited about this grant that Mr. Strock submitted and honestly, it was not a difficult decision to fund this grant,” Frederick said.
The Bovine Injection Simulator is used to teach proper cattle injection techniques such as ear tagging, administration of medicine, vaccines, antibiotics and other shots to the neck area. Strock confirmed that the Bovine Simulator is used in his upper level classes reserved for juniors and seniors at this time.
“I really do think that this makes students a little more aware of the production practices that are behind the beef they purchase. These students earn a credential in my classroom and it’s BQA which is boof quality assurance, and through that they understand start to finish from pasture to plate and just kind of scaffolding and reinforcing what we’re doing with the BQA certification. If anything, it’s just made a more informed consumer out of the students that receive a BQA. Really, it’s just all about animal welfare and animal husbandry,” Strock said.
However if a student were to hit the wrong place, the simulator is equipped with fake blood that simulates how real cattle would typically react if they were injected in the wrong area.
Billingsley students Natalie Kuczmarski, Sadie Primm and Hudson Manning helped to perform the tagging and vaccine simulation. Where they each administered their injections perfectly with no blood to the simulator that the students affectionately named Fu Manchu.
Manning stated that it’s imperative to be able to hit the right spot on livestock for their safety but also for the safety of the “carcass quality” if it’s part of the food chain as it could harm the meat when not administered in the neck or administered correctly.
“I’ve done it (injections) on cattle many times, because my grandaddy raises cattle. But I’ve never really understood why exactly you give shots, and where they’re given. This has helped me understand and see a visual of where everything is in the neck, where to give the shots exactly and the why behind it. If you hit a vein, it can be deadly for them,” Manning said.
Strock stated that before he was able to get the simulator in his classroom, he was using theory, videos and drawings to explain. Now students are getting the proper education and experience before going to a real animal.
“Having that understanding of where to give proper injections, especially for those interested in medicine is important and they’re able to get that real world experience right here in my classroom and even students that aren’t necessarily interested in agriculture can benefit from this, especially if they go into any medical field,” Strock said.
Now, the Bovine Simulator won’t be the only new simulations and new additions Strock’s agriscience classes will be seeing. Strock confirmed that Billingsley School will also be getting an applied science livestock teaching lab in the near future.
Strock confirmed that they will be applying for grants for the new lab, where the lab will be a working facility and students will be able to house their show, working and even meat production livestock.
The lab will be fully equipped with squeeze chutes for cattle, working facility lanes as well as additional simulators and more, Strock confirmed. Reality Works also makes additional simulators where students can learn how to birth calves naturally, experience dystocia in the birthing process, how to pull cattle when they’re in distress and even artificial insemination.
“Students a lot of times don’t have the facilities at home but have an interest in showing livestock. Our facility is going to allow them a place to house their livestock without the need for expensive barns, land purchases, and cross fencing. They buy the livestock and the feed and will show out of our barn here. This will give students the opportunity to show livestock or raise them for slaughter. By doing that they have the ability to learn those husbandry practices and even if they never see a show ring, they’re still learning the animal science side of things as well as the business and economic side of things. It lets us work across the hall with other teachers to learn economic principles and scientific principles at the same time,” Strock said.
Plans have just gotten underway, as the job is currently in the process of getting a bid. Once a bid is secured then the dirt work and site prep can begin, Strock confirmed. Strock stated that he hopes by this time next year they will have a facility, lab and cattle in it.
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