Dairy Heifer Program Participants Get to Know Their Heifers
Rain or shine, our 2021 4-H Dairy Heifer Program participants have been busy!
In the last two months, the participants have been learning about their animals’ personalities and nutritional needs, as well as training them for show season. The heifers must be able to lead and set up with their feet positioned correctly, comfortable around people, and enjoy grooming.
This month, the 4-Hers and their heifers had the first of many program check-ins. Our Threemile team of vets, Dr. Jeff Wendler, Dr. Adlai Schuler, and Dr. Ryan Wedam, met with the kids to ensure each heifer is gaining the appropriate amount of weight, administer necessary vaccinations and check on progress between the kids and their animals.
Dr. Ehrin Dawson, Threemile’s PhD Dairy Nutritionist, works with each participant to carefully formulate rations so the heifer is getting a properly balanced meal. Along with Dr. Brittany Casperson, they teach the kids about general animal health and nutrition.
Once the check-ins were complete, the participants were able to ask questions or discuss concerns, as well as mingle with each other and the other heifers. All the kids were excited about the progress they had made and the Threemile team was very impressed with the growth and tameness changes in all the heifers.
We asked participants about their favorite part of the program so far:
We are proud to partner with these amazing kids who are so willing and eager to learn and work with the animals. Thanks for taking good care of the Threemile heifers, Morrow County 4-Hers!
