Piglets are in the classroom, Caroline County students get hands on in Ag-Science
CAROLINE COUNTY, Md. — School lessons usually don’t come with snorts. WMDT visited Caroline County Public Schools today to learn about the newborn piglets providing students in this ag program with hands-on experience.
Agriculture student Gabrielle Roe said, “This semester, we really focused on breeding and farrowing out the pigs. We got her before she was bred, so we learned how to breed them. We bred the other two behind you as well, but they didn’t catch, so they lost their litters at the beginning of the year.”
Caroline County Public Schools creates opportunities for students to explore their passions through the Caroline Career and Technology Center. Roe said working with pigs wasn’t part of her original plan—until this class.
“I just learned my passion is pigs. I realized I want to go to college to learn more about swine reproduction and maybe breed pigs on my own. This is really my jam,” she said.
Students are gaining skills in everything from artificial insemination to examining spinal structures with an ultrasound and administering iron shots to the piglets.
“They got the opportunity to help birth these pigs, which is pretty cool. We also learned how to take care of the mom during and after the process,” Roe added. “The iron shots are because pigs are naturally born iron-deficient. If we don’t give them the shots, you could come in and find a dead piglet.”
Ag science teacher Jodi Neal said it’s special to impact the next generation of farmers.
“My favorite part of this job is just seeing these kids bring new life into the world, and then they’re able to start that whole cycle. They’ll raise the market hogs, or maybe one of these will be the next breeding pig we have,” Neal said.
The program offers six courses, starting with Intro to Ag Food and Natural Resources. From there, students can branch into animal science or plant science.
“Animal students like to know what they’re raising to feed their animals, and plant science students like to know what’s available for them to sell to, especially in the animal industry, because that’s where they make their money,” Neal said. Most students take both courses before moving into animal and plant biotechnology, agricultural technology, and the capstone course, which covers ag business.
“I knew I wanted to make an impact on the next generation, and it boils down to people needing to know where their food comes from, how it’s raised, and what laws and regulations protect them and the animals,” Neal added.
The school’s piglets, born Jan. 9, are named after designers. Students said they’ve already begun to see their personalities, especially with one named Chanel.
“I love learning all their new personalities and how they can pop right out of the mom and have the biggest personality. It’s really cool. It’s also just cool to interact with such little things,” Roe said.
The program teaches the circle of life. “We sell our meat. Our FFA sells our meat as a yearlong fundraiser. Some of our pigs also go back to the school and feed our students. So if our kids are eating pulled pork one day, it could be from one of the pigs we raised here, which I think is pretty cool.”
While some pigs are raised as future breeders, others are used to support the school’s operations.
