Love Shyanne’s story? Click here to meet more interns and read their stories! Shyanne Ackerman grew up on a 100-cow, tie-stall dairy operation. When she had the chance to complete an On-Farm Internship this summer at Rohrer Dairy – a 1,700-cow dairy farm with a rotary parlor that’s vastly different from what she experienced growing up…
Love Payton’s story? Click here to meet more interns and read their stories! When Payton Eirman’s family decided to exit the dairy industry in 2017, it was a hard and emotional decision. Eight years later, Payton is now a college student entering her junior year at Delaware Valley University where she’s studying animal science with a…
Love Emma’s story? Click here to meet more interns and read their stories! Emma McLaughlin’s first experience working with dairy cattle began in high school. She grew up in 4-H and FFA, showing a large variety of livestock. Her neighbors had a dairy farm, and she eventually started showing cows with the family. Emma’s dairy experience…
Love Jessica’s story? Click here to meet more interns and read their stories! Jessica Fleisher is a rising senior at Penn State University studying Animal Science. Her plans for the future? She hopes to become a dairy herd manager. To help explore her dream, she is interning at M. W. Smith Farms in Perry County,…
Love Allison’s story? Click here to meet more interns and read their stories! Growing up on a small livestock farm, working with animals is not a new activity for Allison Billard, a senior at Penn State University. Her love for working with animals, including beef and goats, has guided Allison to where she is now….
These Internships Provide Students With On-Farm Learning Experiences This Summer Eight college students who are pursuing careers in dairy production recently began on-farm summer internships on progressive dairy farms in Pennsylvania and New York. The Dairy Excellence Foundation, the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association created the program more than 10…
What does the future of the Pennsylvania dairy industry look like? For young professionals like Shara Allman, a full-time herd manager at S&A Kreider and Sons in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, she is living out her dreams at the farm level and working with cows on a daily basis. Many young herd managers like Shara get their start through…
Producers and Processors Who Might Be Looking for Employees Can Apply for Interns or Apprentices Dairy producers from Pennsylvania and beyond are encouraged to apply to be a host farm in the 2025 On-Farm Internship Program. The program was designed to provide 10- to 12-week on-farm internships and create opportunities for Pennsylvania students to gain…
Gavin Brophy is a junior at North Carolina State University where he’s majoring in animal science on the pre-veterinary track. He is originally from Westchester, PA, which is only a 30-minute drive from where he spent the summer through an on-farm internship at Walmoore Holsteins, Inc in Cochranville, PA. Gavin grew up in the suburbs…
Darcy Heltzel grew up on her family’s 120-cow dairy, Piney Mar Farm, in Martinsburg, PA. Her responsibilities on the family farm included feeding calves and milking cows. While she enjoys caring for animals, she discovered an interest in food science and is a rising sophomore studying food science at the Iowa State University. “I knew…
