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It’s not unusual for a class to start a few minutes late at Ohio State. Classroom doors are locked, absent-minded professors arrive late, and computers or projectors malfunction.
And on the Ag Campus recently, students had to wait on some strange instructional tools: two dairy cows and a calf.
“There was an accident on 315 so they are stuck in traffic,” Pasha Lyvers-Peffer, a professor in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, told her morning laboratory section as they sat, half-asleep, in the seats surrounding a small, indoor arena.
It was just another day for Introductory Animal Sciences. In the class, students are introduced to the history, role, and current organization of the animal industry, along with the general physiology, anatomy, and characteristics of market animals. Instead of learning about the livestock industry via textbooks and slides, the class meets and explores these animals, both inside and out.
On this particular day, they milked a cow by hand, made butter, and took a look inside a cow’s stomach.
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The class waited patiently, and, as promised, the arena garage door opened and two cows, a Holstein and a Jersey, were led by halter to opposite sides of the arena. Hobbling behind them was a brown baby calf, barely a week old.
The class was led by Lyvers-Peffer and Maurice Eastridge, a specialist in the field of dairy science. Students followed them around the arena – but carefully. Livestock animals are not house-trained.
“You have to watch where you step in this class,” Lyvers-Peffer said.
Students circled around a small table on one side of the room to hear a lecture about ruminant nutrition. Cows have stomachs divided into four compartments. The rumen, the largest compartment, contains microorganisms that digest food.
In order to better understand ruminant nutrition, scientists have developed the “cannulated cow.” Cannulated cows are surgically fitted with a cannula – a small, circular, plastic lid the size of a Frisbee.
The presence of the cannula is safe and painless, and allows students take turns slipping on a plastic glove and putting a hand and arm into the rumen. They can then feel its walls, and also see and feel the partially-digested food.
Josh Lorbach, a freshman in animal sciences, was one of the students who experienced the “hands-in” activity.
“It was strange to think ‘I’m about to put my hand in this living thing’s stomach,’ but overall it was a fun experience,” he said.
On the opposite side of the room, students learned about the physiology of udders and learned how to milk a cow.
Introductory Animal Sciences is open to any interested OSU student, not just those who major in animal sciences. There are also no prerequisites for the class, and a farm background is not required.
Stephanie Neal, a freshman in animal sciences, encourages people to try out the class.
“I would tell other students that they could learn not only where their food comes from, but get hands-on experience with animals in other aspects as well, like reproduction and maintenance,” she said.
Cassaundra Hupp can be reached at [email protected].
