Day 5-Student Perspectives

Today we visited the Abbott Lodge Dairy Farm in Clifton. It was a lot of fun. We were first briefed of the farm's history on how they were hit with foot and mouth disease and then revamped their whole operation by getting jersey cows. Next, we got a tour around the farm, petting the cows and calves and seeing how they milk them. Lastly, they provided lunch and gave us some of their home-made ice cream. I got the flavor "Just Jersey" which was created to focus on just their milk. It was delicious, so creamy and milky!

It was definitely obvious why it's their best seller. We are staying the night at the Wynnstay and it is such a cute hotel. We found out it was built in 1780 as a townhouse and then turned into a hotel. The dinner was delicious. They served us a three course meal and for my main course I had the pheasant.

-Kasey Anderson

Today was pretty cool. We had an early start, leaving around 7:15 on a two and a half hour bus ride to Abott Lodge Dairy. At the dairy, we learned about how the farm is run, including the dairy production, crops, and showing. Walking around the farm, I was able to compare it to dairy farms in the state and overall it was very similar. An interesting fact I learned about though was the there is no veal market in the U.K.  We had lunch and ice cream here too. The "Just Jersey" flavor of ice cream was superb!

Afterwards, we had a five hour bus ride to our hotel, stopping once for a bathroom break and leg stretch. 

Once at the hotel, we settled in and enjoyed a three course meal followed by hanging out with a good many laughs.

-Ruby Monn 


Moo-Moos and Bus Rides


After an early start….and a bit of a long bus ride… we left Scotland and headed for England and Wales. First stop, the Abbott Lodge Dairy Farm. Second stop, Machynlleth Wales. It was a little bittersweet leaving Scotland today. The country is so beautiful and picturesque, it is everything I imagine a painter looks for when trying to find inspiration to paint a landscape. Every photo we took looked like an oil painting, absolutely still and absolutely perfect. But, it was time to continue on….


I’m not going to lie, crossing the border to England was little anticlimactic. While I wasn’t expecting the Queen to show up and offer us tea and crumpets (although that would have been greatly appreciated)… I was at least expecting a little something more than a sign… maybe a fence or two? Regardless, it was no Canada or Mexico Border. After I recovered from my initial sadness about the Queen standing us up, I realized just how stunning the countryside of England was. Rolling green hills juxtaposed with the jagged rocks piercing the earth. Sheep dotting the mounds, as if someone had spilled a bag of cotton balls on a green carpet. Trees, fairytale like in nature, scattered everywhere. And wind turbines standing guard like sentinelsatop the peaks of mountains, truly memorizing, swirling at their lazy pace, not a care in the world. Everything was gorgeous. Next thing I knew we were at the Dairy.


The Dairy was a great experience. The owner and his family were so very friendly, and the ice cream was delicious! The cows were adorable, and the facilities were very interesting to observe. What I found the most interesting was the fact that they do no vaccinate unless the disease is present in the animal here. This is very different than in the US, where we vaccinated everything and hope for no disease. It is a preventative verse treatment approach. It made me think that if this could work in the US, it could cut costs, and help elevate superior genetics using “survival of the fittest” in a way, but then I think of all the incoming livestock we have in the US as opposed to the UK and how it could be difficult to achieve. Being in Dairy Management this semester just allowed my mind to wander aimlessly about our practices verse theirs, and how to combine them to make a “super dairy.” It was all very interesting, and made for a very thought provoking afternoon.


After the dairy, it was off to Machynlleth. More winding roads, more sheep, more trees. Once we arrived, a group us immediately went exploring and found an amazing view of the sunset… thank goodness the UK doesn’t have strict roaming laws… because I am quite certain we would have been in serious trouble in the States… but once back from our adventure we had dinner at the Inn (which was adorably old… and had no hot water… but still adorable.) The evening led to some poolplaying, singing, and the Macarena….. We have a great group here…. I just can’t believe we only have a few days left….


-Lexi Haggard

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 7-Harper Adams University

Image
We spent the first half of today at Harper Adams University touring their facilities and meeting with their faculty and students. We were able to learn about the way they run their schools, facilities, and operations.  Here students learn a brief history of Harper Adams University from Dr. Catherine Baxter, one of hour hosts for the day. Harper Adams has a unique history in that it was founded in the beginning entirely by a wealth man in the late 19th century. Upon his death, he left his entire estate to set up a trust in order to set up a college whose only purpose was "to teach practical and theoretical agriculture". The college has about 3500 students (roughly the size of CALS population).  Here students listen to a lecturer from Harper Adams discuss her research with Holstein cows. One thing we noticed as toured the facilities at Harper Adams is that most (if not all) of their units (beef, swine, etc) are located on campus, so students are able to walk to their facilities...
Read more

Day 6 Centre for Alternative Technology and Powis Castle

Image
 Today was spent in Wales, which is a beautiful country. Today's theme was about sustainability and conservation. The city where we stayed, Machynlleth, is known as one of the most "green" cities in Wales.  This is one of the menu options for breakfast.  Who doesn't like cheese for breakfast? We slept in a little bit (until 9am) before getting on the bus and heading to the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT). CAT was founded in 1974 by a few volunteers from an old quarry. The centre now functions as an education center. It prides itself on having a low impact on the environment. The CAT offers several master's degrees and also offers short courses for students and the public. There are more than 3 hectares of displays and while there was not as much vegetation (because it's still winter), there was still a lot to see and do. Dr. Fisher talks about the impact of agriculture on the environmentand the work that the CAT does.  We hiked up several (58 or so) st...
Read more

Day 7-Harper Adams University-Student Perspectives

   Day 7- Harper Adams University and Afternoon in Iron Bridge Gorge  At Harper Adams today we had an opportunity to tour the grounds and the units. The first thing I noticed were the sheep in the front lawn. I thought to myself, wow I sure would love to go to a school that had sheep to welcome you! Harper Adams is a very old university that is settled within the countryside of Newport Shropshire, England. The school was opened in 1901 that had a total of 6 students. Needless to say it had grown rapidly since then in size and technology. We first had a brief introduction from one of the staff Mitch Crooks. We then, toured the dairy unit which housed around 300 milking Holstein cows. I have been to the unit back at NC State but this one is off the bat much larger an seems to be much more advanced than ours. They offer a carousel milking parlor that has been on the grounds since 2005. They also have a lot of research going on at this time. One was that the researchers added...
Read more