Liz Ridenour Week 3

This past week was an absolute blur! 

Tuesday was weigh-day at WMREC for the cattle and sheep on our property, so we moved them

       Weigh Day at WMREC.          

from their pasture to our chute system to be weighed, body-condition-scored, and (for the sheep) FAMACHA scored. I always love the hands-on days with animals at WMREC, and it was great to see that all of our animals are thriving on the pasture that took quite an effort to fence in :). Later that day, one of my mentors, Jeff Semler, and I, went out to a farm to look at their pastures. While there, I learned how to take a soil sample, which was surprisingly fun, and it was great to be able to personally assist a farmer in the care and sustainability of their land.

Me, having an absolute blast soil sampling.

From Wednesday to Thursday, I was on campus at UMD, College Park, for the Campus Residency and Research Tour with my fellow interns. Although I went to UMD, there were many locations on campus which I was visiting for the first time on this tour, including the Research Greenhouse Complex, as well as research labs such as Thomas Flores' Fermentation Lab, and the Plant Pathology Lab run by Mengjun Hu.

Greenhouse Tour with Meghan Fisher Holbert

In addition to the tour, we received group coaching on leadership skills, with a particular focus on leadership in agricultural extension. I learned that the leadership style I identify most with is "Servant Leadership," with the primary focus of this style being serving others and trying to meet the needs of everyone I am leading. I believe this leadership style is particularly important in the field of Agricultural Extension, in which your job is, put simply, to help people, and to serve the needs of your community. 

To top off the week, on Friday I attended an event called "Confident and Capable: Women Raising Cattle" organized by the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission (SMADC) and hosted by New Roots Farm in West River, Maryland. 

Me, getting some experience ear tagging.

This was a great opportunity to get hands-on experience with beef cattle, and I was able to ear tag, move cattle, and draw blood and preform a pregnancy test. In addition, we had lectures from experts in raising cattle, trailering, and insurance considerations for cattle operations. One of these experts was Racheal Slattery, who was one of my professors during my time in undergrad at UMD, and taught me "Beef Cattle Management." 

It was great to see Racheal again, and to gain some valuable experience and knowledge from her and the other presenters. I particularly liked that the event was focused on women in the cattle industry, as it is a very male-dominated industry (often with good reason--cattle are large and can be very dangerous, and it requires both creativity and sensitivity to handle them in a safe way as someone who will never be 6'3 and 300 lbs.). This event was encouraging and very much gave the message that women can and should feel confident in raising their own cattle and even running a cattle operation. 

Overall, this was another great week in this internship, and I believe that the experience and knowledge I'm gaining, along with the connections I'm making along the way, will last long after this internship is over.