One by one, the woolly, wide-eyed lambs take their turn nestled up in the lap of a stranger, legs dangling in the air, waiting patiently on their backs for what鈥檚 to come.
They lay mostly still and fall quiet, sometimes squirming, as students take their turn tending to each lamb, vaccinating and tagging them before shortening their tails and castrating the males.
Like in so many of Jay Whaley鈥檚 agriculture lessons, the learning is in the doing rather than in a textbook or on a Chromebook. With both delicacy and speed, Whaley walks his students step by step through the ways farmers care for the young in their flock. Then, he hands over his tools to the teens, coaching them as they attempt to match his precision in each procedure.
It鈥檚 a typical way that students studying agriculture at South Routt School District RE-3 spend part of their afternoon class time. They can also breeze through a demonstration breaking down how to artificially inseminate a cow. And they can seamlessly prepare and package many different cuts of meat.
Guiding students through 鈥渃onception to consumption鈥� is Whaley鈥檚 main job in the northwestern Colorado district.
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