posted on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 in News
Taurus Sow welcomed Southwest Iowa Community College (SWCC) students to the farm for an out-of-class experience that complimented their breeding and genetics course.
The collaboration between AMVC Management Services and SWCC exposed these students to a modern 4,700 head sow farm near Lenox. Before the trip to the farm, AMVC employees visited the classroom to discuss biosecurity, animal care and the AMVC production system. The following week, the students came on site and learned from Dan Weber, AMVC sow production manager, and AMVC sow farm managers, Amanda Winslow and Joe Clemens.
The students rotated throughout the barn and learned about record-keeping, herd health and genetics, as well as, helped with various tasks like assisting sows giving birth and artificially inseminating sows.
“The students especially enjoyed breeding and helping the birthing sows. None of the students had ever been on a sow farm before and this gave them first-hand experience on what actually goes on day-to-day. Real world knowledge is important for them to garner as they enter the work force,” commented Beth Baudler, SWCC breeding and genetics course instructor.
AMVC was excited to host such a bright group of students to the farm.
“They asked a lot of good questions about the hows and whys of the sow farm. My goal for the afternoon was to have the students understand the whole picture, not just what they read about in a textbook,” said Winslow, sow farm manager at Taurus Sow.
Clemens also commented on the educational afternoon, "It’s important to me to let others know what we do on the farm. If I helped these students gain a better understanding, then my time was well spent.”
Representatives from AMVC Management Services and SWCC hope this out-of-the-classroom opportunity is continued for future students.
AMVC Management Services is headquartered in Audubon, Iowa, and manages 115,000 sows across seven states.