Getting up for a 7:30 a.m. class can be rough for some college students, but imagine getting up at 4:30 to do the morning feeding and milking. That is just what the student workers and managers at the Waterman Dairy Farm do every day to keep their herd happy.
Two managers and more than 12 students work together to operate and maintain the dairy farm located on Lane Avenue just north of the West Campus parking lots. The farm’s main purpose is to function as a research center while also providing students with a place for laboratory and classroom work.
“The herd is used for research studies conducted by professors. Our main job is to carry out the research procedures and record the findings so the professors and graduate students can complete their projects,” said Andy Spring, Farm Manager at Waterman.
The farm provides students with laboratory experience and demonstrations that are typically conducted by the herd manager, John Lemmerman.
Lemmerman is an Ohio State graduate who worked the farm for four years as a student. Now he’s a full-time employee down on the farm.
“Different professors ask us to show their students how to do things like dehorn an animal, vaccinate an animal or how to properly judge a dairy cow,” Lemmerman said. “We also do a lot of general dairy tours for the animal science 200 classes each year.”
Spring stressed that the farm is run by students which gives them more pride in their work and a desire to ensure everything is done right. Students perform the majority of the morning and evening chores such as milking and feeding the herd, and recording the research data.
Joel Kemp, a junior in animal science said that working the farm gives him a different perspective of how to conduct farm chores.
“My father is a veterinarian so I see the farm through that perspective, but working here gives me a completely new view of production because it is a different place that focuses on research,” he said.
Some students even live at the farm to help with the management during the night and over the weekends taking care of any problems or situations that might arise during those times.
“It’s nice to live away from all the campus noise at a place where it is peaceful, but now I have to drive to class and I miss out on some of the campus area life that I would have if I didn’t live on the farm,” said Mike Allerding, a junior in animal science. “I also get to live for free because I work there, which is nice.”
Most of the students who work on the farm have prior experience working a dairy farm. They often incorporate methods of farm operation that they learned at home at the Waterman Farm; sometimes they also take what they learn back to their home farms.
“The idea behind them letting us try some of our ideas on the farm is because we are trying to find the best ways to complete our jobs and sometimes new ideas are better for the farm and for the people that work there,” Allerding said. “The best part of working here is learning new things about the animals and ways to work with them. Getting all this experience is very beneficial because I know it will make me more successful in the future.”
