WHEATLAND — Kindergarten students at Libbey Elementary and third-grade students at West Elementary recently learned about pigs and farmers, a news release issued by AMVC Management Services reports.
AMVC, which owns and manages the sow farms in Wheatland, spent an afternoon with the local students teaching them about pig farming.
AMVC public relations coordinator Alicia Humphrey talked to the students about animal housing, care and nutrition. The students watched several short educational video clips so they could visually see what the inside of pig farms look like and how pigs are cared for on a modern farm. In addition, AMVC brought two 2-week-old piglets to visit the students at the schools.
Mary Budd and Meghan Murray, AMVC Wyoming employees, accompanied Humphrey to the school visits and facilitated the hands-on learning for the students. Budd and Murray fielded questions while giving each student an opportunity to pet the piglets.
Budd, an AMVC employee of five years, had a fun time educating the students.

“I feel it is important to take piglets to the classroom because there are so many children that are not subjected to animals and its great that they can pet and really see and enjoy the animal,” said Budd.
Murray started working at the Wheatland farm last year and was excited to educate the next generation.
“The students were engaged and wanted to learn about the pigs and modern-day agriculture,” Murray said. “It was cool to see them take what they learned from Alicia and connect that information to the pigs.”
The third-grade students have been learning about their community and the role of consumers and producers in their social studies class, so AMVC’s activities fit well with their studies.
“The students gained more knowledge on what goes on at pig farm from birth to bacon. Plus, they really enjoyed seeing and petting the live pigs,” Paula Johnston, third-grade teacher at West Elementary, said.
After the presentation, both piglets were donated to a Platte County 4-H family who will raise them and show them at the county fair this summer.
This is the second year AMVC has brought piglets to the Wheatland schools.
AMVC owns and manages two sow farms in Wheatland and employs over 30 people in the community. AMVC is headquartered in Audubon, Iowa, and manages sow farms across seven states.