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Pigs in the city: L-P ag program steps closer to bringing livestock on campus · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Pigs in the City, LP Ag Program Steps Closer to
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  Speaker 1: Bringing Livestock on Campus. Written by Emily Beebe. This article
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  Speaker 1: is being read by an automated voice brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by Everlit. LaSalle-Peru Township High School moved one step closer
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  Speaker 1: to bringing livestock onto campus after the LaSalle Planning Commission
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  Speaker 1: recommended approval of a special use permit for the school's
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  Speaker 1: ag program on Thursday evening. The permit would allow the
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  Speaker 1: school to keep cows, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, and
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  Speaker 1: rabbits at the Eureka Savings Bank Agriculture Center for veterinary
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  Speaker 1: science and animal science instruction. The LaSalle City Council is
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  Speaker 1: scheduled to vote on the recommendation at its meeting at 6.30 p.m. Monday,
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  Speaker 1: where it is expected to pass without issue. No members
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  Speaker 1: of the public spoke in opposition at the hearing. LP's
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  Speaker 1: agriculture program has grown from roughly 30 students to 102
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  Speaker 1: in less than a year, driven by the completion of
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  Speaker 1: the Eureka Savings Bank Agriculture Center. Now the district wants
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  Speaker 1: to expand into live animal instruction for its veterinary science classes,
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  Speaker 1: where 25 students are enrolled currently. Future Farmers of America
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  Speaker 1: advisor and agricultural educator Riley Hinscha said 24 of those
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  Speaker 1: 25 students raised their hands when asked if they want
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  Speaker 1: to be veterinarians. My job is to find out which
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  Speaker 1: of them actually wants to do that long-term, Hincha said.
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  Speaker 1: I want them to have the opportunity to say this
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  Speaker 1: is or isn't what I want to do with the
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  Speaker 1: rest of my life. The animals would not live permanently
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  Speaker 1: on campus. They would be brought in for specific educational
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  Speaker 1: periods and returned to their owners, who are community members, alumni,
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  Speaker 1: and friends of the FFA chapter. The animals would be
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  Speaker 1: hand-selected for temperament and must be student-friendly, leadable, and approachable.
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  Speaker 1: Our intention is by no means for animals to live
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  Speaker 1: on campus, Hincha said. If they do live on campus,
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  Speaker 1: it's for a small, short, extended period of time. The
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  Speaker 1: biggest concern for neighbors is odor, particularly from pigs. Hincha
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  Speaker 1: said odor control comes down to two factors, moisture and bacteria.
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  Speaker 1: You can control those two things. You're going to control
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  Speaker 1: odor pretty well, he said. Everything is cleaned daily and
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  Speaker 1: sanitized daily. The timing of which animals are brought onto
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  Speaker 1: campus is also part of the odor strategy. Pigs would
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  Speaker 1: be brought during colder months when the smell dissipates faster.
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  Speaker 1: Waste would be handled through a locked dumpster outside the building,
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  Speaker 1: and individual buckets returned with animal owners. Students handle cleaning
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  Speaker 1: and sanitizing as part of their education. My favorite part
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  Speaker 1: is when I enter some show barns that I show
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  Speaker 1: livestock at, you don't even know that anything lives there,
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  Speaker 1: Hintzsch said. That's the ideal goal. Hincha and LP Superintendent
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  Speaker 1: Clayton Theisinger said they canvassed the immediate neighborhood around the
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  Speaker 1: agriculture center, knocking on doors and sending follow-up letters with
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  Speaker 1: mitigation factors. Two property owners whose homes directly touched the
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  Speaker 1: Ag building expressed support for the program and the educational
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  Speaker 1: opportunities it provides students. Hincha previously ran a similar program
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  Speaker 1: at Streeter Township High School, where a sow gave birth
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  Speaker 1: to piglets in the school greenhouse. The project, called ThinkOink,
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  Speaker 1: drew more than 1 million viewers on social media and
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  Speaker 1: resulted in more than 150 piglets born at the school
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  Speaker 1: and over 1,000 students receiving hands-on learning experience. A veterinary
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  Speaker 1: science building is planned for the south side of the
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  Speaker 1: Agriculture Center. Architect Mike Kmetz of Kmetz Architects presented preliminary
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  Speaker 1: plans for the building, which would feature large animal pens,
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  Speaker 1: medium pens for goats and sheep, and small animal hutches.
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  Speaker 1: The building would include overhead doors with security gates and
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  Speaker 1: a ventilation system designed to exhaust odor upward. The permit
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  Speaker 1: is needed because the property is zoned R3 two-family residential,
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  Speaker 1: where livestock would not typically be allowed without special approval.
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  Speaker 1: LP is currently one of the top 10 ag programs
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  Speaker 1: in the state for facilities, Hincha said.