The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Several members of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter at Chinook High were awarded state degrees at the Montana FFA Convention held in Billings April 4-7. One CHS student also won a state proficiency award in beef production entrepreneurship. And a sophomore FFA member is already making plans to earn a state proficiency award for her work with swine production.

FFA State Degrees earned

The FFA State Degree is the highest FFA award at the state level. FFA chapter members who perform at least 25 hours of volunteer service in their community and earn at least $1500 through their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) are eligible to apply for the award. Each new FFA member selects a supervised project they pursue while in high school.

The idea behind the supervised project is that students best learn when given an opportunity to 'experience' what they are learning. Many supervised projects in FFA eventually relate to the student's adult field of work. CHS students earning the state degree this year were: Cristen Friede; Sierra Swank; Hailey McMaster, Garrett Lowham and Colton Liddle. Liddle also earned a proficiency award at the state level.

Colton Liddle earned a proficiency award in beef production entrepreneurship.

Colton Liddle, a senior, used his work with his Black Angus Beef herd to apply for and earn an FFA beef proficiency award. In his application for the award Liddle wrote how he received his first heifer when he was seven years old. It was a gift from his grandfather and helped launch his interest in ranching and beef production. Writing how his supervised agricultural experience has developed from that first heifer, he is now running 41 cow calf pairs and showed a market steer at last summer's fair. Colton has plans to show a steer at the 2018 county fair.

He described in his application how the skills he was developing became critical when his father was laid up with knee surgery. Suddenly it became his responsibility to make all haying decisions on the ranch for that season. From his early years "just running the swather" he developed skills to successfully manage the haying for a season, making the decisions about when to bale and then doing the baling.

Part of the purpose of pursuing the award is to master a number of skills related to a student's interest in a career in agriculture. Noting his goal was always to run a cattle operation, Colton wrote about learning, and using, skills to make 'buy and sell' decisions with his herd and how to efficiently manage a herd. He said he has reached the point where he is starting to invest in capital assets.

Robin Allen, CHS AgEd Teacher and FFA Advisor, said, "A significant part of the motivation for FFA students to earn either the State Degree or a state level proficiency award is for recognition by peers in other FFA chapters for accomplishments during high school. Colton did a great job putting this project and his application together to earn the award."

Alyssa Gruszie is laying groundwork for a state level swine proficiency award

Though still in her sophomore year at CHS, Alyssa Gruszie is an active member of her FFA Chapter and making plans to apply for a "swine production-entrepreneurship" proficiency award during high school. This award recognizes a student's proficiency to efficiently produce and market swine.

FFA Advisor Robin Allen said, "What makes Alyssa's project unique is her focus on producing quality show pigs. She AI's (artificially inseminates) the sows twice a year." For nearly five years Alyssa has been breeding show sows to produce market quality pigs. She started with two show pigs in 2013, then bought two sows the next year. In 2015 she went to Colorado and bought two more sows. By 2016 she had six head of show pigs and one market hog.

She currently owns seven sows, two gilts and a boar. Once the baby pigs are born, she treats and weans them, then FFA and 4-H students buy the pigs for their own Supervised Agricultural Experience or to show at local fairs. In early April, Alyssa had a sale and sold 25 pigs that will be used as show animals.

Alyssa Gruszie, a sophomore at Chinook High, is shown with a litter of her show pigs. She is working through the steps to earn an FFA swine proficiency award for "efficiently producing and marketing swine." She artificially breeds her show sows to produce winning show piglets. The young pigs are purchased by FFA and 4-H members for show at the fair or for Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) projects.

In discussing the skills she's learned, Alyssa said, "I make all the decisions about AI for the sows. I know the characteristics I want in the baby pigs and I am working to create great show pigs." She added, "The greatest sense of accomplishment I can have is knowing I will make a kid happy when their pig wins grand or reserve champion at the fair."

She explained she's also learned about nutrition for swine as her family grinds its own feed. Her goal is to be a teacher or a rancher. Alyssa added, "Whichever career path I take, I'm learning financial and decision-making skills that will help me. The sales of the pigs will help me meet future financial obligations or pay for college."

Alyssa is using an option with her application for a proficiency award that allows a student to submit an application and receive feedback about areas in the paperwork that need attention. She explained, "With the feedback I still have a couple of years to make my proficiency award application the best I can make it."

The "Journal" salutes all the FFA student members, FFA advisors and volunteers who help with the various aspects of FFA. Thanks to your efforts there will continue to be 'farmers for the future.'