As Tanque Verde High School students roll into class on Thursday morning, excitement is in the air. They finally got to see if their cows were pregnant, after their three hefers were artificially inseminated in May.
The class is learning about breeding and raising cows, which are key skills for those looking to become ranchers. For TVHS junior Douglas Sheppard, it’s important to learn about this topic and help grow the agriculture industry.
“It’s the satisfaction of know that I did something that could help other people like putting food on a family’s plate,” he said.
It hits home for Sheppard because his grandpa was a rancher.
“So I was hoping to get the experience from this class, the knowledge and the skills to go up there and continue the family farm,” he said.
After performing an ultrasound on each cow, they found that the cows were pregnant. The hefers will have the babies in February and the students will be able to learn about raising cattle.
“We’ll decide if we want to sell them or keep them,” Sheppard said.