Out of The Classroom, Onto The Farm
UMC instructor Dr. Harouna Maiga is taking his Animal Systems Management class out of the classroom and onto the farm, the dairy farm that is. On February 25 four UMC students toured Dryer Dairy Farms, located near Ottertail, MN, just outside of Detroit Lakes, for an on-farm diagnostic visit.
"This is a capstone class, where students get to use all they have learned in their other classes to analyze an Animal System Management," Maiga said. "The class uses a system approach, where students analyze all components of an animal operation: animals, facilities, labor, finances, and environmental issues."
Dryer invited the students to his dairy farm to perform their consulting project. There, they conducted a complete farm analysis, or SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats).
While participating in this Service Learning project the team of students asked Dryer to explain to them the biggest problem he faces on his farm. With his response in mind, the students analyzed their notes and toured the farm, focusing on three main areas: improving reproductive health, herd health, and increasing milk production.
Dryer was eager to see his farm from the students' perspective.
"I know a lot about what works, but how do I apply it?" he said. This is where the students come in. The team will analyze the data and put together a presentation near the end of March, which will offer suggestions on how to address the problems Dryer identified. Through service learning, Maiga's class gets the hands-on opportunity to learn and the farmer gets valuable input from the students. In the past, farmers have used the students' recommendations with good results. In one particular case from a few years back, a team of UMC students studied the troubled finances of a particular family farm, and recommended that the farmer cease operations and liquidate; the farmer did just that.
Maiga sees this as a positive learning environment for the students, the farmer and himself. "I think more learning is taking place when students get used to me through these consulting projects," Maiga said.
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