News

South Dakota FFA member’s research benefits poultry, swine

Hadley Stiefvater of the McCook Central FFA Chapter in South Dakota won the Agriculture Research and Animal Systems Proficiency Award at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis this past week. Hadley built a project around her research into the production of pullets and young pigs.

“I started with a project on the effects of two different feed types in laying hen rations,” Hadley told Brownfield Ag News at the convention, “and then my second project was testing the hemoglobin levels of neonatal piglets using two different kinds of iron.”

Hadley, who raises poultry, beef cattle, swine, and sheep, looks forward to using the award as an illustration for the seventh graders she is currently student-teaching.

“You can do this,” she says she’ll tell her students. “Just because you’re just a seventh-grader, it adds on in the future, and that is something that will grow to shape your experience in FFA.”

Stiefvater’s FFA advisors are Tracy Chase and Terry Rieckman.
Brownfield’s Amie Simpson contributed to this article.

AUDIO: Hadley Stiefvater (1 min. MP3)