Friday, February 10, 2017

Animal Science Field Trip to ABS

Today (2-10), 12 of the students in Mrs. Knudson's Animal Science class experienced a tour of ABS Global and the dairy, beef, sheep, & swine UW Research facilities. At ABS, students learned more about the technology of artificial insemination and the genomics involved. They saw the labs as well as the barns and bulls. From there, they saw the UW Research swine facility where they learned about the research being done on pigs to benefit human health. Their latest research project involved kidney stones and devising a procedure to remove them. Next was the sheep farm where they saw all ages of animals from rams to yearlings to lambing ewes. The vet happened to be on-site giving vaccinations and led a discussion about disease prevention and lambing complications. After that, they headed to the beef farm where they learned about the nutrition research being done, such as how to help cattle recover from stress brought on from being trailered long distances. Lastly, they stopped at the UW dairy farm and witnessed the automated equipment and latest technology, including a "fitbit" for cows which is used to track their activity and rumination. The students had a day filled with hearing and seeing things that they have been (or will be) learning about in class! [Submitted by Mrs. Knudson]