Visit to Dakota Lakes Research Farm

We had a great visit out to the Dakota Lakes Research Farm on Monday, May 5th.  I mistakenly thought that the farm was owned by SDSU, however, the farm is privately owned by a group of farmers and is managed by Dr. Dwayne Beck from SDSU.

Dr. Beck shared important findings from his 30 plus years of experience working at the farm and traveling around the world.  Among the most popular topics were the experiments they have been doing on no-till farming, cover crops, soil health, and the variety/rotations of crops they are experimenting with.

The farm has both irrigated and dryland fields and we looked at the differences in the soil structure between the two.

We were blessed with a beautiful day and a special thanks to Dr. Beck for taking time out of the planting season to show us around the farm.  We hope that this is the first of many trips to the research farm in the years to come!

Planting for this year and beyond!

 We planted some grass seed last week around campus in anticipation that God would water the seed for us!

 On Tuesday, April 29th, we hosted an FFA Fun Night and invited any interested students to come check out what FFA has to offer.  We had close to 30 students attend and hope that many of them will be able to join us for the 2014-2015 school year!

 The food consisted of delicious, grilled hot dogs and indoor smores!  The microwave replaced the campfire for roasting the marsh-mellows.

All in all, it was a great night of celebration and sharing about the last year.  Next year we are expanding our course offerings to include classes in plant science, animal science, leadership, agri-business, and a middle school edition of "Exploring South Dakota Agriculture".  Students need to be enrolled in at least 1 semester of an Ag class to be eligible for FFA.  Again, a reminder to join us for Awards Night on May 8th-hope to see you there!

The Finish Line!

 As we head into our last month of the school year, we are enjoying the beautiful spring weather we have been blessed with!  Our classes have been planting trees and working on landscaping projects on campus the last couple of weeks since the convention.

The end of the school year is always busy for the students and our class times will be limited as the students compete in track meets, rodeo, and help with bull sales.  We are finishing up our leadership study on Shackleton this week with a paper examining Shackleton's legacy of leadership compared to principles we find in the Bible on life and leadership.
We have also started a final research project where student's are researching and presenting on different topics in livestock and landscaping.  The topics include: Animal Handling Facilities, Genetics, Grass-fed versus Grain-fed cattle, Shelter Belts, Mineral and Feed Supplements, Implanting, Artificial Insemination, and a Landscape Design for a house at SBA.
May 5th (Monday) we are planning a field trip to Dakota Lakes Research Farm which is operated by Dr. Dwayne Beck from SDSU who has been a pioneer of no-till farming.  I will plan on meeting West River students at the farm (17 miles east of Pierre on Highway 34) at 10:30 am, otherwise we will leave from school at 9:15 that morning.  Classes will be switched around that day so students should not miss much from their other classes.    
There will be FFA awards given out at Awards Night, so please join us in celebrating our year on May 8th!

State FFA Convention Highlights!

 SBA is the first private school in South Dakota history to start an FFA chapter.  This a picture of our senior leaders with the official charter membership!

 Livestock judging events at the Animal Science Arena at SDSU

Group picture with the charter membership

 A visit to the Dairy Bar at SDSU-a great way to end the convention!

We were very competitive in the horse judging and livestock judging competitions.  Our horse judging team finished 16th out of 59 schools and our livestock judging team finished 17th out of 66 schools.  Jana Hunt finished 19th out of more than 200 students individually in the horse judging competitions.  Congratulations!  (all the judging results can be found at judgingcard.com under "South Dakota State CDE's" from April 7)

The convention was a blast and I hope the students enjoyed it half as much as I did!  I'm proud of the students for their participation in the competitions, workshops and general sessions.  Being our first year, we did not win a lot of awards on stage, however, I'm confident that this group is laying the foundation for something special here at SBA.  The most important thing is that this group represented the Lord Jesus Christ well and for that they all accomplished far more than they could have in any competition!  

State FFA Convention here we come!

http://aged.sdstate.edu/SDFFA_home_files/Events%20&%20Announcements/StateConvention/2014/2014%20SC%20Program%20FINAL.pdf

SD State FFA Convention April 6-8^th

Sunday, April 6

2:30 pm-Meet at SBA

2:45-Leave SBA

4:45-Arrive in Brookings and register at the convention

5:30-Check into hotel

Supper-Pick up pizza and bring to the hotel

7:00-Session 1 at Frost Arena

Monday, April 7

8:00 am-Livestock Judging at the Animal Science Arena

9:30-Advisor meeting

11:30 am-12:30 am-Advisor Luncheon at the Campanile room in SDSU Student Union

Noon-Horse Judging at the Intramural Building, East Side

Lunch-Students on their own

2 pm-Business Session at the Frost Arena-Brian and Tricia

Tours of SDSU after horse judging and session?

Supper-Going out to eat

7:00-Session 3 at the Frost Arena

Tuesday, April 8

8:30am-Final Session in the Frost Arena

Tours of SDSU after session?

Lunch-Students on their own

**Be sure to check out the tradeshow and the workshops throughout the day on Monday!

We should arrive back to SBA by supper time on Tuesday.  Remember that official dress will be required any time you are at the convention or competing.  Check out the link at the top for other information on the convention!

Miller FFA CDE

judgingcard.com

We had a fun day in Miller today with our horse judging and livestock judging teams. The horse judging team took 6th out of 16 schools and the livestock juding team took 10th out of 17 schools. Congratulations! The teams will compete next at the State FFA convention. Results for the judging can be found at judgingcard.com under the March 18 Miller FFA CDE. We are team 0108.

Horse judging and livestock judging resources

Here are some good on-line resources for horse judging:
http://www.cowgirldiary.com/archives/1169

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/anatomy/quartertypeconf_030107

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/anatomy/geldingconformation_051906/

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/anatomy/mareconformation_061506/

**Horse and Rider Magazine has a great conformation clinic in each one of their issues!

Here are some good on-line resources for livestock judging:
http://www.judging101.com/

http://www.ans.iastate.edu/clubs/judging/livestock/Basicsppt.pdf

http://www.livestockjudging.com/free_livestock_judging_practice_classes.aspx