Many college seniors spend their spring break visiting family, skiing, or traveling somewhere like Cabo. Camping in a cow pasture with no cell service? Not so much.
As part of the course Beef Cattle Calving Management, students are required to spend part of their spring break helping meet the needs of the WSU herd during an important time of year.
Ryan Goodman, WSU beef cattle operations manager, teaches the WSU Department of Animal Sciences course.
The four students taking the course split up the week in pairs, monitoring 126 pregnant cows that were due to calve in their winter pasture above the Snake River.
The course is selective: Students must apply and be chosen.
“We want students who will get the most out of the experience,” Goodman said. “What we’re doing is pretty advanced, and we need students who plan to work with large animals in their professional career.”
Two of the students, Naomi Turner and Laurin Ogg, will graduate this May with bachelor’s degrees in animal sciences. They’ll begin grad school next fall with the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine.
“Ryan presented it as having to give something up, like it could be a deal breaker,” said Turner, a Springdale, Washington, native. “It was the exact opposite for me; this experience was a selling point. This class has built on everything we have learned since our first year here, allowing us to apply our knowledge in a hands-on environment.”
The students began each day at 6 a.m., coffee in hand, with the sunrise check, followed by three or four additional checks across 1,200 acres of canyon range land. They drove a small off-road vehicle looking for calves born overnight and cows in distress.
Normally, cows give birth quickly and without much fuss. On one check, a cow was acting mildly agitated as the students drove past. Then on the return to the camper roughly 20 minutes later, they noticed that cow with a new calf lying next to her.
“That’s how it’s supposed to work — it’s a very natural process,” said Ogg, who is from Hoodsport, Washington. “We won’t interact with them for the first few hours, ensuring that the cow and calf have adequate bonding time. Then after a while, we go back and do the initial processing.”
That processing involves weighing the newborn, making sure they’re active and nursing, administering vaccinations, and placing an ID tag in their ear.
When the students encountered abnormal calving signs in one distressed heifer, the term for a new mother who had never had a calf before, they rounded her up into a pen.
“We walked with her from the far side of the pasture and got her almost to the pen, when she turned and ran right back,” Turner said. “These hills are steep, and we were exhausted doing that all again. These cows are bred for this environment, so she climbed the canyon walls with ease. We got her into a pen where Ryan was able to coach us through the situation.”
When the students noticed the distressed animal, they immediately texted Goodman. Although there is no cell service in the canyon, (“It’s so nice to disconnect,” Turner said.), they did have a satellite hookup for emergencies.
“The calf was upside down and backwards,” said Goodman, who broke his arm a few weeks before calving season started. “Normally, I can take care of that, but this year I needed help. It was so hard to sit back and watch. But with help from Dr. Zachary Seekford (a WSU animal sciences faculty member), we got the calf out safely. Naomi and Laurin did a perfect job helping the mother.”
Turner and Ogg both said this is the type of experience they could have only dreamed of when they came to WSU. Both arrived wanting to become veterinarians but didn’t know they’d have an opportunity to directly care for animals as students.
“There were only four students staying in the pasture during spring break, but we’ll have around 70 students helping at various points,” Goodman said. “We want to match them with their experience level.”
Some students have never been around large animals, so they will start with prep work and watch during the hands-on work. As they get more comfortable, they’ll have the chance to work more directly with the animals, Goodman said.
Because the cows were artificially inseminated on the same date, their due dates fell in mid-March, during WSU’s spring break. Though some calves develop faster than others, the peak timing kept the students busy.
“We saw new calves each time we checked,” Turner said. “It’s been fantastic to be part of the process and watch these calves come into the world.”
Providing students with immersive, real-world experiences is central to WSU’s mission and critical to training the next generation of animal science and veterinary professionals, said Raj Khosla, Cashup Davis Family Endowed Dean of WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences.
“It speaks volumes about our students that they choose to spend their spring break caring for animals and supporting real agricultural operations” Khosla said.
The WSU herd, which includes Wagyu and Angus cattle, was bred to be docile. They’re not spooked by people coming near them or their babies. That gentleness helps when so many students and faculty are helping in the pasture.
“I would’ve been down there the entire week, if possible,” Ogg said. “It was an amazing experience, and I can’t think of a better way to spend spring break. I hope future students will appreciate this valuable experience as much as we have.”