Hands-on learning: Abbeville High teachers educate students on process of how meat goes from farm to dinner table

Abbeville High students saw firsthand how an animal goes from the farm to their dinner table, thanks to the Ag Department at Abbeville High School.
On Wednesday, the two ag teachers teamed up to teach anyone on campus who wanted to learn how to butcher a pig.
With the help of the Ag teachers, the students scraped the hair off the pig, cut the skin, and made cracklins, then cut the head off, along with the feet. The skin and organs were also removed. Finally, at a table behind the Ag Department, the students processed the meat by cutting the pig into pieces and keeping the meat.
A handful of students were in the mix of skinning and cutting up the pig.
“I love this. This is every day for me,” junior Ty Detraz said, who helped remove the skin and sawed off the feet. “I have cleaned deer before, and this is the same thing.”
Watching in the background was senior Alyssa Rideaux, who stepped out of her English Class to watch. She was not in the mix like Detraz and his friends, but her eyes lit up when the organs were removed, including the tongue. Detraz cut the tongue out of the pig. Rideaux held and studied the organ. She also put her fingers in the cutoff pig head’s mouth and did not flinch.
“I think this is interesting to see the anatomy of the entire pig,” said Rideaux. “We can see what part we eat and where it comes from. The whole process is interesting. This is really cool.”
When she graduates in May, Ribeaux is heading south and will attend Nicholas State in Thibodaux, La. Her major will be microbiology.
This is the second time in four years the Ag Department has butchered a pig.
“We are showing the students how the digestive system works and how meat is processed,” said Theall. “Most people are so far away from the farm that they do not know where their food comes from. This allows students to see how the meat is processed and how it will go from the farm to the dinner table.”
When the organs were removed, Theall showed the students the digestive system, including the colon, stomach, liver and gall bladder.
Some students, who have an interest in biology, also saw the pig’s heart and lungs.
Teacher Brandon Billeaud teaches a certified medical assistant class at AHS. The class is for all Vermilion Parish high school students. He took the heart and lungs to his class. He planned to teach his medical assistant class how to do something using a real heart.
“This is good because we get to see a heart up close and personal,” said Billeaud.
Devin Romero, who teaches Pro-Start at AHS, and her students cooked cracklins from the skin cut off of the pig.