Ownership SAE Visit

This past Tuesday March 14th, I visited Chloe and her brother Layne at their family's barn and observed their Ownership SAE projects.  This year each of them were taking care of a steer to prepare for sale at local fairs in the fall.  Chloe's steer was named Ace and Layne's steer was named Simba.  Both steers were a mix of breeds, but Ace was black and Simba was a tan color.  

Ace and Simba.

Before the actual visit, I arranged to visit about 2 weeks before with Chloe at the start of one of the classes I am student teaching.  The week after that, I checked with Chloe once again to make sure that she was still set for myself and Fell to visit their farm.  The day before the visit, I asked for the address for the visit and confirmed the time of the visit.  Additionally, the day before the visit, I made sure that I had the SAE questions sheet for the AEE 313 assignment and thought of other questions that I could ask Chloe and Layne when I arrived.  Some of these questions included What are the steers names, Where have you gotten the funds to buy and care for the steers, What is one of the most recent things you have learned, and Do you feel that you have been taking good journal and financial entries in AET?

The feed that Chloe and Layne use for 
their steers.

Upon arrival at the farm, Chloe and Layne told me about their steers and answered all of the questions that I asked.  I was quite impressed to see that Chloe and Layne had brushed their steers before Fell and I arrived on the farm.  They had purchased the steers from the farm show with funds from their parents after the steers were about 1 year old already.  Chloe and Layne do all of the work to care for, feed, graze, walk, train, and prep the steers for sale.  The funds for feed and medical care come from their parents but upon sale of the animals, all of the profit from the animal goes to repaying their parents for any money they contributed and saving up for cars, tractors, and college funds.  The pasture they used was their grandparents land that they allowed to be used for pasture for the steers.  

The pasture that Chloe and Layne use to graze
their steers.

Both Chloe and Layne had been showing steers for about 3 or 4 years, but after all this time, they were still learning how to care for their animals better.  Chloe expressed that the biggest thing that she was still learning about taking care of steers was clipping.  How to clip the steers for show and in what way that makes the steer as appealing as possible.  Chloe and Layne spend about 1 hour a week in the winter feeding and watering the steers, but in the spring, summer, and fall they spend at least 2 or 3 hours a week walking, feeding, watering, grazing, and preparing their steers for show and sale.  

Chloe's lamb that was recently born.

Before the end of the visit, I recommended that both Chloe and Layne enter more frequent financial entries as they complete their SAE projects.  In this way, they can budget their funds more efficiently.  We then started talking about applicable financial record keeping methods that actual business owners use.  Additionally, I checked both of their AET records and both were missing any entries from 2023.  If I were to make any further recommendations, I would recommend to both Chloe and Layne that they update their journal entries at least once every other week so that their hours don't pile up and they end up with a lot of hours to enter at once.

Overall, I was super impressed with everything that Chloe and Layne are doing with their steers and how well Chloe is caring for her sheep and lambs that she has as well.