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   from the issue of December 15, 2005

     
 
University's teaching beef herd offers hands-on learning

 BY KALEE OLSON, IANR STUDENT WRITER

Teaching herds are an important learning tool at UNL's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

"The herds help students better understand how the different industries do the things they do and, most importantly, why they do them," said Cathy Hervert, a senior animal science and grazing livestock systems major from Ravenna, Neb. "You can explain a concept up one side and down the other, but it just makes things easier to see them first hand."

Nine classes currently give students the opportunity to directly work with cattle and experience real-life situations. The cattle are used to provide insight on concepts such as anatomy, physiology and nutrition, Hervert said.

Darci McGee, a graduate student in animal science from Fairbury, worked with the herd as an undergraduate.

Since the cattle normally have a calm disposition, they provide great hands-on experience for students with little livestock experience, she said.

Jim Gosey, UNL beef specialist, has worked with the teaching herd since 1978. He also developed a merchandising class that gives students the opportunity to manage their own purebred bull sale.

"You have to be able to work directly with animals if you're going to do a good job of teaching," he said.

McGee was a student in the merchandising class in spring 2005.

"The cattle were high quality for a teaching herd and bought by actual cattle producers to be placed in their own herds. It shows a tremendous mark of quality that year after year producers keep coming back to buy bulls from the teaching herd," she said.

The 2005 teaching herd currently consists of 70 Angus cows and 110 Husker Red and Husker Black cows. The first teaching herd was used at UNL in 1874, shortly after the establishment of the college's farm. A variety of breeds was common in the early history of UNL teaching herds, but today Angus is the only purebred herd used by the university, Gosey said.

Students and staff took on a crossbred herd to practice calculating genetic estimates as well.

In 1985, Husker Reds and Husker Blacks were introduced upon the formation of a composite herd of Hereford, Red Angus, Gelbvieh and Simmental cattle, Gosey said.

Change comes with the territory of raising livestock, and the university's teaching herds are no exception. However, their value as a learning tool has only grown stronger, he said.

Due to its positive impact on past and present students, the UNL teaching herd will more than likely be around in years to come, he said.

"Hands-on learning is the best kind of learning," McGee said. "Classroom learning is great, but some people have a hard time grasping the concepts until they are able to actually practice with live animals. The teaching herd provides a different atmosphere for students to learn in."


GO TO: ISSUE OF DECEMBER 15

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University's teaching beef herd offers hands-on learning

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