Monday evening we
finally met the agroformateurs (agricultural teachers), or AGFs, that we will
be training for the next three weeks.
The nine teachers were put right to the test: we had already set up a
pre-assessment for them which included identifying different tools, plants, and
performing certain tasks which will be covered over the entire unit. At the end of this three week training, they
will be put through the same assessment which will confirm which of our
competencies were successfully developed through our lessons.
For our section, now
commonly referred to as “l’equipe animale”, we had set out an elasterator, a
pen light, a thermometer, and a tailor’s measuring tape and they had to both
identify and explain it’s use in animal husbandry.
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Our table of tools,
can you identify them?
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Angela manned the next booth, where they
were instructed to appropriately demonstrate how to put together a needle and
syringe and fill it to 33 ml. This had
varying success levels. This will be
important for our week 2 unit on preventative care and basic treatment. In that section, the AGFs will learn about
important vaccinations as well as gain skills in administering a subcue and IV
injection. This will allow them to
perform vaccinations and treat for basic ailments.
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| Angela judges as AGF Ricardo fills a syringe during their pre-assessment. |
I sat at the last
station, at the top of a flight of stairs leading up to the porch that housed
our pre-assessment. Each AGF walked up
to me expectantly, looking around for something to identify. I pointed down the stairs to where I had
tethered one of our goats and asked them to assess her and determine her body
condition score (BCS). BCS is an
assessment tool that rates the state of the body on a scale 1 to 5. A BCS of 1 is a goat that is very skinny,
where you can visibly observe pinbones, hips, and ribs. A 3 is a “normal” healthy goat. This is the
goat you want to eat. Or, if you are a
good entrepreneur, this is the goat that should be kept and bred in order to
grow a herd of healthy goats. A 5, which
is rather rare in the goat world, would be an animal that is obese which will
often result in health problems and trouble birthing.
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AGFs Jones, Nicholas, and Michel identify skeletal parts of
the goats during their pre-assessment
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With visibly protruding rib-lines and deep
depressions in her lumbar regions, we had already scored her at a 1, or
potentially a 2. Most of the AGFs gave
her one look, called her a 3, and moved on.
This showed us that our lesson plan for the next day was on track, that
we should start our unit by training the teachers to do a complete assessment
and body condition scoring of a goat.
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