Supervised Agricultural Experiences
What is an SAE?
Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE)are a required component of a total agricultural education program and intended for every student. Through their involvement in the SAE program, students are able to consider multiple careers and occupations, learn expected workplace behavior, develop specific skills within an industry, and are given opportunities to apply academic and occupational skills in the workplace or a simulated workplace environment. Through these strategies, students learn how to apply what they are learning in the classroom as they prepare to transition into the world of college and career opportunities.
What are the benefits of having an SAE?
Helps in making career and educational decisions
Develops self-confidence
Gives practical meaning to courses studied in school
Develops job skills
Promotes critical thinking skills
Applies record keeping skills
Promotes good money management
Grows work ethic
Helps develop the ability to assume responsibility
Gives practical experience in relating to other people
Helps make the transition from school to work
Helps achieve FFA awards
What are the categories of SAE projects?
Entrepreneurship
Students with an ownership/entrepreneurship type SAE own the enterprise, equipment and supplies, make the management decisions and assume the financial risks to produce a product or provide a service. All products or services must be agriculturally related. A few examples would include raising and selling animals or crops, building and selling agricultural equipment, buying and reselling feed, seed or fertilizer, owning a pet care business or a business that programs and installs computer equipment in tractors
Placement
Placement/Internship programs involve the placement of students in agriculture, food or natural resources-related businesses to provide a "learning by doing" environment. These experiences may be paid or un-paid. Examples would include working on a farm or a ranch, in a farm supply store or a food testing laboratory or in an agriculturally related non-profit organization.
Research
In a research SAE students plan and conduct major agricultural experiments using the scientific process and discover new knowledge. As part of the research, students verify and demonstrate or learn about scientific principals in agriculture. Research SAEs can be entrepreneurial or placement. Research SAEs can be conducted alone or cooperatively with other students or mentors/employers. Examples would include conducting research on the most efficient feed supplements for livestock or the best fertilization methods in plants. Research could also be done to study consumer reactions to agricultural products or to determine the best method of welding to hold together a plow
Exploratory
Exploratory SAEs are appropriate for all agriculture students. This SAE activity is usually beginner level, short term and designed primarily to help students become literate in agriculture and/or become aware of possible careers in the AFNR career cluster. Exploratory SAEs should help students create a larger more focused SAE.
What are some of our SAE projects?
Darcy Alons: Entrepreneurship: Swine Vaccinating
"My SAE is entrepreneurship. I own and operate a vaccinating business that vaccinates pigs for local farmers.. I usually vaccinate them for a common pig disease, PRRS. My crew and I start off pushing the pigs to one side of the pen and then putting a panel up so they stay there. Then we take the prepared syringe with the vaccine in it and administrator it to every pig in the pen. We mark the ones we do with spray paint or chalk so we know which ones we've done. When we think we've done them all we let them run loose and check them over to make sure every one is done." -Darcy Alons
Shawna DeKam: Entrepreneurship: Beef Production
"My SAE this year was buying and selling five bull calves. I purchased my calves in April and sold them in October. Before the calves came I had to build calf pens in the barn, fix fencing, and get the supplies for when they would arrive. When they arrived I had to make their milk for them to eat every morning and night. I had to buy the milk replacer and determine how much they needed. I weaned them off of the milk and onto feed. When they got let into the pasture I had to make sure everything worked properly for them. I continued to feed them everyday and night. I then sold them to a local farmer on October 17, 2020."
-Shawna DeKam
AJ Kamstra, Rylan DeGroot, Taeten Kollis & Kaase vanNiejenhuis: School-Based: Mechanics
Our goals for this project are:
1)Fix motors and see how engines are different.
2)See what people are doing with big company's with mechanics.
3)See how this can apply to my farming and see if I can help farmers fix tractors and equipment.
-AJ Kamstra
Jacob Dibbet: Placement: Pollema Manufacturing
"As a freshmen, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do in the agricultural industry. I started off by working alongside my dad in our families hog buildings and hauling manure. While I still help with these tasks from time to time, while working alongside my dad and helping him fix a few gates with welding, I decided that I really enjoyed welding. So, in 2019, I started my manufacturing SAE when I got my job at Pollema MFG. There I started learning how to make good welds, and how to work metal. As I worked I gained confidence in my general building skills. I made lots of hog gates and feeder poles."
-Jacob Dibbet
