This summer, we have 8 students completing on-farm 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 provide $3,000 grants to support these on-farm internships each summer.
Read their stories and view highlights from their summer!
Meet Allison, an On-Farm Intern Gaining Essential Skills as a Future Veterinarian
The quote she lives by: “You can have the best grades and you can have a 4.0, but if you can’t apply it to real life, then it’s not going to help you much at all. Getting the experience definitely helps you. I live by the quote, get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
Her favorite day of the week: “I love every Monday. Mondays are my busiest day, but they’re my favorite day because in the afternoon we have vet checks. The vet comes out and we do vet checks on all the cows. So, I get to help with that. She’s been showing me how to read the ultrasound machine and then I give the hormone shots that the cows need.”
Meet Jessica, an On-Farm Intern Who’s Exploring Her Passion for Herd Management on 700-Cow Dairy
Her favorite part of the experience so far – treating cows: “Growing up I always knew that I wanted to work with cows. Cows are what I love. One thing that I’ve enjoyed [during the on-farm internship] is seeing the cows we have treated get better.”
Why broadening your experience matters: “There are all types of farms. Just having one experience on one size farm doesn’t really get you the whole experience of what everyone else is going through in the dairy industry.”
Meet Emma, an On-Farm Intern Who Is Honing Her Breeding Skills and Gaining Experience on Larger Dairy Farm
Emma’s goal for the summer: “I wanted [an experience] that was going to push me out of my comfort zone, and I had never been on a big dairy before. I knew I wanted to intern on a large-scale dairy farm. I am definitely humbled by how much I didn’t know from working here and that’s exactly what I wanted.”
Her encouragement for others: “A lot of whether or not you like your internship is how much you put into it. If you’re going to do this, do it with your whole heart. Take away as much as you can, and even if you don’t like it, any experience is a good experience. I have really liked this. It has definitely changed my life for the better.”
Meet Payton, an On-Farm Intern With Passion for Research and Veterinary Science
Her favorite day of the week: “Tuesdays are probably my favorite days because that’s when we do the vet checks. The vets usually bring their students, so I can ask them a lot of questions, which is nice. I’ve done a lot of networking that way. The vets also teach me a lot. I’ve watched a couple hernia surgeries, and we had a left displaced abomasum (LDA) that I was able to watch. They’re very open to learning all the time and take me right in.”
Diving in and getting out of her comfort zone: “I love to dive in and get my hands dirty. This farm has been nothing but welcoming to that. I really thought that I would just stand around and watch everybody, but my managers will give one cow an IV and then say, ‘All right, you’re next. You’re doing it.’ That has forced me out of my comfort zone. Even though I was only here short term, they still taught me everything. There’s nothing they cut out. They fully involved me in all the operations here.”
Meet Shyanne, an On-Farm Intern Who’s Exploring Breeding and Herd Health Technology
What she’s most proud of: “We started breeding right away during my first week of the internship. And now I’m definitely improving. I just bred three today. I’m going to start breeding the heifers down in the breeding pens, so I’ll be in charge of that. I definitely wanted more experience breeding, because even though we had the breeding class at school, we didn’t really get to confirm any pregnancies or anything.”
Putting her knowledge into practice: “The farm has a new product that they’re trying to use to prevent mastitis. It’s called Aspi. They have smart boluses and smaXtec in about every cow, and then they have an Aspi report on the smaXtec. I check that [report] every day, and then we’ll compare the graphs with the milk weights, conductivity, and somatic cell count to figure out which cows we want to give Asby to. I’ve been able to put into practice what I learned at school. We can talk about it all we want in class, but being here and actually experiencing how mastitis and ketosis works has been really eye-opening.”
Meet Isabella, an On-Farm Intern Who’s Learning About Ice-Cream Making and Calf Care 200 Miles From Home
Helping to make ice cream: “It has been really cool to see the small business side of things. It’s really just Kacie Hershey running it and the business just started, so we definitely had our work cut out for us. It was interesting to see how everything is done [from start to finish]. She has blank containers, and then I have to take little stickers with ingredient labels and the names of the ice cream flavors.”
Being far from home: “You’re going to learn something regardless through this internship experience, whether you like it or not. If you don’t like it, you’re going to learn that about yourself, too. At least for me, because I’m so far [from home], this has helped to push me outside my comfort zone.”
Meet Holly, an On-Farm Intern Who’s Getting an Inside Look at Robotic Dairy Farm
Her first time with robots: “I’ve gotten a lot more familiar and comfortable with the robots, although it takes years to fully figure out the robots. I’ve learned some of the buttons and how to fix some of the problems if they have a shutdown. I think everyone should have the opportunity to experience a robot farm and figure out how everything works, because it’s definitely different from any other type of dairy.”
The value of consistency: “My favorite part has been treating cows and doing IVs and mastitis treatments. I’ve had a little experience with this through my classes at school, but it’s always better to have a lot of consistent, hands-on experience to get better at it.”
Meet Hannah, an Enthusiastic On-Farm Intern Expanding Her Knowledge for the Future
Why Hannah chose the dairy industry: “I really fell in love with dairy, the relationships you make with the cows, seeing them through their lifetime, and all that they can accomplish in terms of production.”
Hannah’s advice for other interns: “Really make sure to apply yourself. When I first got here, I was definitely very nervous. And I think I kind of held myself back a little bit for fear of just not knowing what to do or just trying to get a feel for the place. I wish I could go back and be a little bit more confident to take advantage of asking more questions and doing things.”