Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE- Sixty one high school students came to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Pioneer Farm to learn about careers in animal science on Feb. 29. The students came from Argyle, Waupun, Cuba City, Lodi, Mineral Point and Riverdale high schools.

"This is a great way for students to come learn about three non-traditional areas. This is something you can't really do at a high school," said Gretchen Kamps, camp coordinator for the School of Agriculture.

Throughout the day, students rotated between three different animal science careers: animal breeder, animal nutritionist and agribusiness person. For the animal breeder station, students were lead by Alicia Prill-Adams, assistant director of Pioneer Farm. Prill-Adams taught the students how to collect semen from a stud boar, evaluate the semen’s quality in the laboratory and inseminate a sow.

"I'm excited to learn about breeding because I breed beef cattle," said Laurel Ballweg, a senior at Lodi High School.

For the animal nutrition portion, alumnus Ryan Weskircher of Benton Feeds taught the students how to collect bunk feed samples and check for particle size and mixed quality, take core samples from hay bales, what to test feeds for and how feed quality affects milk production.

For the final area, agribusiness, students then learned what it takes to sell agriculture products from Annie Kinwa-Muzinga, professor of agribusiness, and the Pioneer National Agri-Marketing Association. Students learned the importance of logos and product identity and created a print advertisement for beef.

This is the first time the School of Agriculture has hosted an event like this. The idea stemmed from a survey the School of Agriculture conducted at World Dairy Expo. They found that students had a lot of interest in animal science.

"This fit in nicely with what we are talking about in our advance agriculture business management class. Students can learn about the different types of ag industries," said Glenda Crook, agriculture teacher and FFA advisor at Lodi High School.

Because of the success of this year's event, Kamps plans to expand it for next year, utilizing more areas of Pioneer Farm.

"We had a lot of positive comments from teachers and students. I feel there is a gap in agriculture as to knowing how things happen. This event fills that need for students to learn what else is in the world of agriculture," said Kamps.

Anyone wanting more information about Animal Science Career Day may contact Kamps at (608) 342-1371 or kampsg@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Gretchen Kamps, camp coordinator, School of Agriculture, (608) 342-1371, kampsg@uwplatt.edu Written by: Krystle Kurdi, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, kurdik@uwplatt.edu