By Jolene Bott
The MSU Dairy Cattle Teaching and Research Center recently obtained two new pieces of equipment to replace aging ones that were requiring too many repairs to be reliable every day. By working with our vendor partner Burnips Equipment we purchased a new H & S hydropush manure spreader and a New Holland skidsteer loader. The new spreader will provide worry free daily use for taking the manure back to the digester. The skidsteer will be added to the fleet of two other Bobcat skidsteers that have had a high amount of use and have become somewhat unreliable for daily chores. We appreciate partners like Burnips Equipment who have been instrumental in helping the MSU Farms produce high quality feed by providing a self-propelled chopper for harvesting for the last three growing seasons. The farm has also been discussing the opportunity to obtain an all-electric 120 horsepower New Holland tractor which could be utilized on the farm for mixing feed as well as answer questions for researchers and the industry about the use of these type of units in agriculture.
Showcasing our new equipment in the photos is one of the student employees at the farm, James Link. James has been working at the dairy farm over the past semester and has played an important role in keeping the areas around the barns neat and tidy. In addition to helping with cattle projects, James spends several afternoons each week operating the power sweeper attached to the new skidsteer so that the facility is always clean for the classes and people in the community that visit the farm every day. James is a freshman majoring in Animal Science and is part of the Oesch Family that owns and operates Swisslane Dairy Farm in Alto, Michigan. James is going to continue his learning of dairy farm management this summer as he will be doing an internship at Lew-Max Holsteins near Belding. James is just one of the 25 student employees at the MSU Dairy Farm. Each of these student employees are unique individuals that play an important role in the day-to-day operations of the farm. The staff at the farm appreciates the opportunity to teach and work with these great energetic young adults and look forward to them making a positive impact on agriculture in the future.
Source : msu.edu