Conclusion

I am so sad this semester is coming to and end. This class has been, by far, my favorite class I've taken at Auburn. Everything we did was new and interesting and I loved ever minute of it.

I think that is why I chose this major, because I am not familiar with anything Agricultural, so everything I learn and encounter is brand-new and exciting.

By taking this class I have learned not only a great deal about the handling and management of livestock, but I have also learned a great deal about myself and my abilities. I have made many new friends, and connections with faculty I may not have had otherwise.

This class is one of those experiences that I will probably talk about for years to come, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in animals or agriculture, but haven't had the chance to have hands on experience.

I hope this class becomes a permanent fixture in the department of Animal Sciences, because it has truly made an impact on my freshman year here at Auburn, and I feel like it would also have the same effect on students to come.

Not everyone has had the opportunity to interact with livestock before coming to college, but as a major industry in America, I feel it is almost necessary for our universities to provide some basic hands-on knowledge of livestock to students.

This course has opened up so many doors for me, and I am so glad I had to opportunity to participate in this pilot program!

Beef Unit: Tractoring and Trailering

When it comes to driving things, I will be the first to admit that I am not very skilled. Because of living in the Netherlands, where we couldn't get our drivers license until 18, I am just now learning to drive since being back in Auburn. And when I drive I am in my small crossover, with parking assistance and a narrow turn radius. Nothing compared to driving a truck or a tractor.

I guess there is a first time for everything. This class has provided me with a lot of firsts, and driving a tractor and a trailer was going to be one of them.

I started out on the truck and trailer. A diesel f-450 to be exact, with a trailer mount instead of a bed in the back. I hoisted myself up into the truck and cranked it up. The object was to back the truck up, hook up the trailer, and then drive a loop around the Beef Unit, with the trailer attached, back it up into its original position, and unhook the trailer.

Backing up this monstrosity is more of a two or three person job. In my case 3 person. Landon at the back directing, and George in the passenger seat giving instructions. The tricky thing about hooking up the trailer is that the trailer hitch must be in exact position for you to be able to hook up the trailer. So there was a lot of backing up, driving forward, and backing up again until I got it perfect.

From there we hooked up the trailer, and then began our loop around the Beef Unit. I soon realized the turns must be made extra wide when driving a trailer, wide and slow is the name of the game. Totally different from driving my little car.

Once we made it back around the other side of the Beef Unit, I needed to back the trailed up to it original spot. Here comes the hard part. I didn't know that when you back up a trailer you have to do everything in the opposite direction of how you would normally back up.

I had to back up and drive forward to restart about 40 times, but eventually I got it back in the original spot and unhooked it. Thank God for Landon and George having the patience of saints!

From there it was on to the tractor. The main obstacle here: stick shift. I can barely drive an automatic safely, so how on Earth was I supposed to drive something with a clutch. With some work I finally got it, even though I had to put the tractor in low in order to be able to steer it and back it up without crashing into something. Maybe one day I'll be able to handle it in high gear...

Anyways, the next task was to back up the tractor and spear a bail of hay, pick it up, and move it to another location. This is where I was extra glad I was in low gear, it gave me extra time to back up and adjust my positioning. Thank the good lord I didn't hit the fence, unlike some people....

I successfully speared the hay bail, lifted it with the lever and then moved it to the other side of the row of hay bails. Victory!

Overall I think I did fairly well for someone who has been driving a little less than a year! But I wouldn't be trusting me out there on my own just yet!

Horse Unit

I have an inherent fear of horses. So obviously I was putting off this lab until the very end of the semester. Horses, and horse people just don’t mix well with me. The funny thing is, I used to be an avid rider when I was younger. I rode both English and western for about 6 years. However, after being thrown from a horse and hitting the fence that just happened to be next to me, that all came to a screeching halt.

Needless to say, I forgot everything I ever knew about horses, and was subsequently traumatized. Horses to me are just large accidents waiting to happen. They are smart and fast and really scary.

Upon arrival at the horse unit, when Angela instructed us to go into the pasture and catch a horse, I nearly dropped dead of a heart attack. Luckily Angela helped me out by giving me some extra help when it came to catching and leading my horse.

Once I had caught my horse, Diesel, and had secured him with a halter I was feeling quite a bit better about the situation. Familiar things were coming back to me, like how to hold the halter and how to lead the horse, but I was still pretty nervous the entire time.

We lead the horses up to the barn, without injury, and learned to tie a quick release knot. We also practiced leading out horses and tying them in cross ties. Then came my favorite part: Grooming.

I remembered grooming well from when I was riding because it was my favorite part. It’s almost therapeutic, and the horses are restrained so I was a lot more comfortable with this. Throughout the whole process of curry combing and brushing, I was becoming more and more comfortable. True, I was still scared and my fear is not completely gone, but I am so glad I made the trip out to the horse unit to face my fear of horses.

Beef Unit: Preg Checking

If only in the livestock world a cow could pee on a stick and it could tell you if they were pregnant. Unfortunately that is not the case, and our wonderful large animal vets have to perform what is called, a palpation. You may have seen something like this on an episode of Dirty Jobs:

Sometimes I wonder if the Animal Science department at Auburn bases a lot of our coursework around what Mike Rowe does on the Discovery Channel....

Anyways, I have witnessed many a palpation while working at the sale barn in Amite, however none of them done by vet students.

We walked out to the silencer on a gorgeous day, only to witness 6 girls wearing the most unflattering things I have ever seen in my life: navy blue jump suits and shoulder length gloves. That alone may have been enough to make me think twice about changing my major to something other than Pre-vet. But what happened next may have sealed the deal.

This precious blonde vet student, stepped into the back of the Silencer applied a good amount of lubrication to her glove and shoved her hand up the rectum of the cow. This alone was not the worst part. Somehow, the cow resisted her going in, and forced back out, causing a stream of fecal matter to explode into the girl's face and mouth.

Needless to say I was horrified. The worst part was that she could not step out of the Silence until she had identified if the cow was pregnant or not, and how far along it was, all the while with Bovine feces still in her mouth and eyes.

All in a days work I guess, but I would rather not have it as a part of my day....

Despite the unfortunate nature of the situation, I was somewhat amazed at their ability to identify not only the presence of a fetus but also how far along the fetus was. There is no ultrasound in this situation, and the veterinarians and vet students were essentially having to identify the major structures of the reproductive tract by touch alone.

As amazing as it was, it was an experience that is definitely causing me to reconsider my choice of major. That, and the fact that chemistry is a nightmare are the two driving forces leading me to look toward other options for my major.

Beef Unit: Ultrasound and Freeze Branding

After being away from the Beef Unit for a couple of weeks, I was happy to get back for one of our biggest labs at the Bull Test: Freeze-branding.

Not only is the Auburn brand totally awesome looking, but just the idea of freeze-branding sounds awesome to me. In addition to freeze branding we were also going to learn a little about ultra-sound and it's uses with livestock, beef cattle in particular.

The lab began with Jason, the amazing ultrasound technician. And when I say awesome, I truly mean awesome, he can see some things on the ultrasound screen which I swear don't exist, it is like he has super-vision. It really does take a specially trained eye to read an ultrasound.

First Jason placed the ultrasound between the 12th and 13th rib of the cow to view the ribeye.

He explained that viewing the ribeye via ultrasound allows them to determine the amount of marbling she has, how close she is to being "finished", and also it allows them to judge the quality of the meat to determine if they want to breed that particular cow, before she is slaughtered. A cow may look good from the outside, but until she is on the kill floor you cannot tell the quality of the meant, until now with ultrasound technology.

As I mentioned above, it really does take a trained eye and a pretty good understanding of cattle anatomy to be able to decipher what you are actually seeing on the grainy and small screen of the ultrasound monitor. Once we had it explained to us about a dozen times I was able to see the back fat and the ribeye area pretty well. But as you can see from the picture on the left, it is not as easy as it looks.

After struggling to keep up with the ultrasound lesson for about 30 minutes, Jason packed up his equipment, and we began the exciting task of freeze branding.

I don't know what I was expecting but I certainly was not expecting the brands to weigh as much as they did. I felt like such a wimp struggling to lift and hold the freeze brands, especially the big AU brand.

We placed the set of brands into a styrofoam ice chest and poured liquid nitrogen over them. It bubbled and fizzed for about a minute, and once the bubbling stopped we were ready to freeze brand. I took a number brand first, and pressed it against the skin of the cow. I needed to make sure I kept contact for at least 20-30 seconds, which was a little tricky the first few times because the cow was jumping and squirming around within the head catch. Once she calmed down though I was able to hold the brand steady for 30 seconds, applying pressure in a rocking motion.

The freeze brand kills the hair follicles, and the hair will grow back white in the pattern of the brand. This is ideal for Auburn's herd which consists mainly of Angus cattle, the white hairs show up really well against the dark hide.

It was a good thing the cows we branded were about to go take a visit next door to Barney at the Meats Lab, because the brands were a little ugly to say the least. I wouldn't hire me to be professionally branding anytime soon, but I'm glad I got the experience.

Spring Break: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Day 2

After leaving the Belgian Blue show on Monday, I was told to come back on Wednesday morning. I had no idea what I was going to be doing, or for how long, but I was in now way going to turn down an opportunity to work. So I showed up bright and early on Wednesday morning, was immediately handed a walkie-talkie, and introduced to the Livestock Committee.

I had arrived in the middle of the biggest movement of livestock that takes place throughout the entire month long Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo: Junior Heifers. 4-H and FFA kids from around the great state of Texas travel to Houston by the hundred to show their heifers at the world’s largest livestock show.

I have grown up around cheer moms, dance moms, and even basketball moms, and I know how competitive they can be. However, nothing compares to the competition that rages within junior livestock shows. While a cheer mom will just yell at you and not take any action for fear of ruining her wonderful French manicure, a livestock show mom just might take a sorting stick and hit you up side the head with it.

These kids were coming in droves, unloading huge pickup trucks and trailers full of show material, along with prized heifers, and it was our job to direct, assist, and move them along as quickly as possible. And this whole ordeal is taking place within a space the size of four football fields.

I don’t think I was walked that much in my entire life. Up and down the stalls, helping in section E and then two minutes later, running over to section J. It was a madhouse, and we moved over 3,000 heifers into the conference center by the time the day was over, 5 ½ hours later. I have a new found respect for the people who work year-round to make sure the Livestock Show goes smoothly and according to plan!

It was amazing to see the dedication and effort that these kids and their families had put into these animals. After seeing all the equipment and hard work it takes to move and show these animals, I can understand why emotions run so high!

Spring Break: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Day 1

Over spring break I went to Houston to visit my family, but I was also lucky enough to get to spend some time interning at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Dr. Greene used some of his amazing connections and got be set up to volunteer with the livestock committee at the show, who are responsible for everything from chickens to show heifers.

The first day I showed up, I was immediately thrown into the show ring assisting with the Belgian Blue exhibition, and I even got to hand out the awards. Prior to this I had had no experience with livestock shows, and it was very much a learn on the go situation.

Even though I was only handling the line-up of the animals and the award distribution, just being in the show ring, near the judges and state officials, I learned a good deal about the rules and etiquette of the show ring, and also about the physiology and the desired traits of Belgian Blues.

They are such rare animals, that there were only about 50 or so present at the show, and within these 50 were a wide range of ages and body types. From Cow-calf pairs, to prized bulls, I was able to see clearly, the strong traits that define this breed.

I also learned a lot about what is undesirable, by the judge’s comments. However, more informative than the judges or any personnel, was Pierre. Pierre was a native Belgian, who also breeds Belgian Blues, and had travelled to Houston for the sole purpose of watching this particular show. His English was a bit off, so we conversed in Dutch in order for him to get his point across more clearly. He pointed out the differences between European and American Belgian Blues to me and gave me a little more history on the breed.

I never thought that living in Holland would help me in the world of Agriculture, but in this case it really paid off!

Shorter Dairy: Visit 2

On my second trip to the dairy, I was determined to master the art of “stripping out”. The first time I went to the dairy, I had such trouble with this. It seemed that every cow I got was completely unwilling to let-down so that I could strip her out. There truly is a skill to milking cows by hand, and so far my skills were lacking immensely.

But this time I was determined. I tried different techniques, one handed, two handed, two fingers, four fingers, and every combination in between. Finally I seemed to find a happy medium that worked for most of the cows that came through, and I was so glad I did, for once I was not the last one to complete the milking!

Being in the parlor, sunken beneath the feet of the cows, you really become aware of the size of Holsteins. Not only are they big, but they are tall. They look like the Shaquille O’Neil of the cattle world. On my second trip out to the dairy, I had more time to look around and observe because I already knew what I was supposed to be doing. From the underside of a Holstein, you can see these massive arteries leading to the udder, and the tendons and muscles holding up the udder are so strong. Being that close to these animals really made me understand what a physical demand it is on these animals to produce so much milk and sustain such a large udder.

Once milking was finished, we got to feed the babies once again. They are growing like crazy, just two weeks ago they were so small and now they are almost twice their size! It is so exciting and amazing to see that one day they will be as big as the full grown Holsteins I spent most of the day milking.

Shorter Dairy: Visit 1

I feel like the dairy world is one that is very shut off to the rest of the world. If you are involved in dairy, or your family is, you know it like the back of your hand. If you are outside of the dairy world, stepping into a milking parlor is a very alien experience.

By this time in the year, I had learned the basic procedures of milking in my Animal Science 1000 class. But learning and doing, I have come to find, are two very different things.

A group of three of us made the trip out to the Shorter Dairy, to get experience with the daily task of milking. We arrived just as the Jersey herd was being loaded into the milking parlor. We were told that the Jersey’s are milked first due to their high butterfat content; the milk sinks to the bottom on the tank.

We were immediately thrown into milking, and learned basically by mimicking what the other workers were doing. The cows are loaded on either side of the milking parlor into individual stalls and restrained by a brisket bar, which limits their movement. Each cow must have their teats dipped in an iodine solution, which is wiped off to clean the teats. Then the teats are “stripped out”, this involves manually pulling milk from each teat. Once these steps have been completed, I pressed the green button to release the automatic milker, which is powered by suction. I placed one tube on each teat, and the milking begins.

Each cow has an I.D. collar, and when they step into the parlor, and individual computer at each station brings up the information on that particular cow. As my cow was being milked I was able to compare her production to yesterday’s production, see if she was pregnant, and monitor her rate of production. The automated milkers release when the cows production declines past a certain level. Some cows will give a lot quickly, while others are more reluctant to let down their milk as fast. The speed in which the cows give milk also determines what group they are placed in. Dairy cows are grouped by nutritional needs. The bigger producers are grouped together and given more feed, where as cows that produce less are given less feed. As the milker pulls off, “post-dip” is applied to the teats in order to provide a barrier from bacteria while the sphincters are still open.

This process continued for a solid 3 hours, as we milked the entire Jersey herd and then the Holstein herd. The work pace is fast, but the milking parlor has a rhythm to it, and once you find that rhythm, the work becomes much easier.

After milking was completed, we got the ultimate reward, feeding the calves. Dairy calves are just about the cutest thing you will ever encounter. They are separated from their mothers just after they receive the colostrum from the first milk, and relocated to an area full of “calf-hutches".

These look like miniature dog houses, with a chain and collar placed around the calf to restrain it. The calf-hutches provide the calf with protection from the weather, but also protection from disease and injury.

The calves we fed were only about a week old and were receiving bottled milk. They were so precious, and we were lucky enough the get to stay outside and interact with them a little longer than usual. I discovered that the will suckle on anything and love to touch and nuzzle up to anything around, which at the time, happened to be us.

It was the perfect ending to a very fast and furious day, but I’m looking forward to my next trip out to the dairy!

Beef Unit: Weaning and Weighing

After my first experience at the Beef Unit, I was feeling pretty comfortable with cattle. However, that comfort was soon dismissed by the somewhat frightening experience of weaning and weighing.

As I mentioned in the previous entry regarding the Beef Unit, the calves were already loaded into the chutes when we arrived for vaccinations. For this visit we were to experience the ordeal of getting the calves out of the pasture, away from their mothers, and into the chutes.

Now this may have been somewhat enjoyable had the weather been sunny and beautiful, however on this particular day it had been raining for the past 2 days, and freezing. The fields were muddy and slick.

We walked up to the pasture where the feeding troughs were and filled them with feed to lure the cows and calves into the smaller set of gates. This part went as planned, and from there everything else seemed to fail.

Once the cows had eaten their fill we attempted to herd them out of the smaller area while leaving the calves inside. They were not having it, and our attempted herding resulted in some angry cows, running around and causing a raucous, and instead of the calves staying inside the gates, every animal ended up outside of the gates, back into the large pasture.

I never realized how intimidating and powerful cows are, until I had them running at me, within a small, enclosed pen. My instinct was to run and jump over the fence, and it nearly came to that several times. I was amazed by the guys who work at the beef unit, how they could just stand their ground as a 2,000 pound animal charged them.

It was a waiting game from here, like we were playing cat and mouse. We would lure one cow-calf pair in, get the calf, and then loose another as we tried to herd the cow out. After this back and forth shuffling of animals, knee deep in mud, and drenched, we finally had all the calves in the same pen and all the cows back in the pasture.

A whole lot of bellowing followed this, as we moved the group of calves from the pasture down toward the hydraulic chute. The cows were not too happy with the arrangement either, as evident by their incessant bellowing. I guess this is something similar to a parent dropping their kids off at summer camp for the first time.

Once we got the calves down to the chute area, we grouped them by sex and side. We weighed the calves in each group and then moved the group as a whole to a specific pen in the upper area of the beef unit underneath the awning.

With the sounds of calves hollering from the back building, I scampered through the rain and into my car, glad that I was not trampled, and looking forward to getting out of my muddy boots.