{"id":93697,"date":"2019-05-31T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/students-learn-about-veterinary-science-by-raising-lambs\/"},"modified":"2019-05-31T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T06:01:00","slug":"students-learn-about-veterinary-science-by-raising-lambs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/students-learn-about-veterinary-science-by-raising-lambs\/","title":{"rendered":"Students learn about veterinary science by raising lambs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><!-- gallery:1570bf33-e7fc-43d1-9048-c67c97a4158b --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TFgxCLYddeA\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Call it a nice send-off to the end of the school year.<\/p>\n<p>Escalante Middle School eighth graders this week cuddled young lambs swaddled in towels as part of a veterinary science class.<\/p>\n<p>The seven orphaned lambs were born at J. Paul Brown\u2019s sheep ranch near Ignacio and were brought this month to live mostly at the school, said Lu Boren, veterinary science teacher. Students visited the ranch to observe pregnancy testing, sheep shearing and the lambs being born, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Raising the lambs \u201ccaptures the heart of the whole school,\u201d Boren said.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=dae67a1b-d9dc-4437-a5dc-75599c1c2c9b&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Lauryn Dukart, 13, feeds Bree a mixture of feed and water Tuesday during her veterinary science class at Escalante Middle School. Students studied animal digestive systems this semester, and they put some of that knowledge to work feeding the lambs.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Lauryn Dukart, 13, feeds Bree a mixture of feed and water Tuesday during her veterinary science class at Escalante Middle School. Students studied animal digestive systems this semester, and they put some of that knowledge to work feeding the lambs.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Students selected individual lambs to care for, she said.<\/p>\n<p>They were charged with every aspect of the lambs\u2019 care, including feeding and diapering the lambs, a necessary precaution while the creatures are indoors, she said. As a result of the constant handling, the soft, curious lambs relax fully in the arms of their young caretakers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey will snuggle right up on your chest,\u201d said Lauren Dukart, 13.<\/p>\n<p>The lambs help Boren teach important lessons about agriculture and veterinary care.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the students who take the elective class are interested in pursuing veterinary science. The class helps students decide if the career is right for them, Boren said.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=e94d51f1-2ccc-438d-8567-8ca9356703ed&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Lambs run around the veterinary science class at Escalante Middle School on Tuesday. Students selected orphaned lambs to care for from local rancher J. Paul Brown.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Lambs run around the veterinary science class at Escalante Middle School on Tuesday. Students selected orphaned lambs to care for from local rancher J. Paul Brown.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Eighth grader Sydney Riggenbach, 14, said she is among those interested in becoming a veterinarian and enjoyed dissecting digestive and reproductive systems in class.<\/p>\n<p>With the end of school today, the lambs will be moved to a caretaker\u2019s home who will finish raising them and sell them for possible slaughter.<\/p>\n<p>Riggenbach said she\u2019s OK with the lamb\u2019s final fate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt least we got to take good care of them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Boren said the sale of the lambs is an important part of teaching students the basics of agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe kids in my class deal better with that than some of the adults in this school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=8b4ae50e-24fe-42a0-8aa9-2b30c9655f65&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Kylee Pontine, 14, holds Boon on Tuesday in her veterinary science class at Escalante Middle School. Students selected orphaned lambs to care for from local rancher J. Paul Brown so they could learn important lessons about agriculture and veterinary care.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Kylee Pontine, 14, holds Boon on Tuesday in her veterinary science class at Escalante Middle School. Students selected orphaned lambs to care for from local rancher J. Paul Brown so they could learn important lessons about agriculture and veterinary care.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Caring for the lambs helped students learn about animal digestive systems. If sheep are overfed, it can be fatal, Boren said.<\/p>\n<p>Students also learned a bit about death after one lamb died from unknown causes.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the learning experience, students tried to determine what happened to it, Boren said.<\/p>\n<p>She thought it would be better for students to see and study the lamb, rather than having it disappear, she said.<\/p>\n<p>The students use bandannas to distinguish the lambs from one another; the deceased lamb\u2019s batman bandanna has been retired and is now on display in the classroom, Boren said.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:mshinn@durangoherald.com\">mshinn@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>make Escalante Middle School home<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[382,155,1431,13,316],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-93697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-animal","tag-education","tag-escalante-middle-school","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-video"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93697"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=93697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}