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CSU animal science alumni pays-it-forward

3/11/2015

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Learning about the world through stats, tables and facts is a normal part of most classes. However, guest speakers, hands-on experiences, and field trips make learning in animal science classes dynamic and memorable.

Last week, the livestock practicum class took a field trip to Diamond D Diary near Longmont, Colo. Jim Docheff, a CSU alumni and fourth generation dairyman, led the students through his operation explaining the changes they’ve made to their business over the years. They’ve grown their operation from 65 cows in 1987 to 650 Jersey and Holstein cows on 80-acres today. Their son has also joined the business as the fifth generation dairyman.

Pregnant cows three weeks from calving live in an open pen called the close-up pen where they can easily be observed. The diary’s reproduction program is completely done with artificial insemination and they calve year-round. Docheff said that using tracking software and good management practices, they consistently hit higher than industry-standard rates for conception and pregnancy. While some cattlemen focus on increasing calving ease when choosing sire genetics, Docheff said this was not their focus for sire selection.

“Feed them right, grow them right,” said Docheff. “They’ll grow out and we don’t have any problems.”

The dairy gets all of the feed products from local farmers. Their nutritionist produces a total mixed ration specifically to meet the high-energy demand of cows in milk production. The farmers in-turn are able to use the manure as fertilizer for their crops.

The cows in milking rotation live in an open-stalling system. The three-sided barn provides shelter from wind and storms, but allows plenty of fresh air and sunshine in. Each cow can choose where she wants to lay down in the sand bedding and when to eat along the rail after the main morning feeding.

“A comfortable cow produces more milk,” Docheff said” Laying down increases blood flow to her udder 14-times greater than standing.”

The Diamond D Diary takes animal health seriously and they keep the cows’ hooves trimmed and work to reduce mastitis with proper procedures during milking. Sick cows are placed in a separate pen and treated by a veterinarian. They are milked daily, but their milk is dumped because of the medications they are given.

The 50-year-old milking parlor is a double-eight herringbone style walk-in parlor where the cows are milked three times a day. The cows’ udders are sprayed with an iodine wash. Then they are wiped-off with a separate towel for each cow before the milking equipment is attached. After each milking session, the udder is sprayed with an iodine, glycerin, lanolin dip to help protect the teats from mastitis infections and cold weather. Then the equipment is rinsed with a hot water flush, followed by an alkaline flush, an acid flush, and a sanitizing flush.


Every batch of milk is sampled and tested for antibiotic residue at the dairy to make sure that it doesn’t get into the food supply. The milk is tested again at the plant. The Diamond D Dairy won an award in 2009 for adopting and implementing best practices under the Beef Quality Assurance program. (See their award video here)

“Every drop of milk is sampled to create the safest product for consumers,” Docheff said.

For students, the opportunity to see a family-run dairy that manages their herd to produce a high quality product goes beyond textbook learning.

“I always value the opportunities to get out and experience the cattle industry first hand here at CSU,” said animal science student Jessica Spear. “The trip to the dairy was especially fun because I come from a commercial cow calf background and the dairy tour was a very welcoming exposure to the dairy-side of things.”

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Jessica Spear (left) and Cassie Spear (right) tour the Diamond D Dairy near Longmont, Colo. with classmates in the livestock practicum course. Photo credit: Dixie Crowe.
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A pregnant Jersey cow eats leisurely at the rail in the close-up pen. Along with her other pregnant pen-mates, she has about three weeks until she calves and can easily be monitored here. Photo credit: Dixie Crowe.
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Holstein cows wait behind the feeding rail watching the visiting students from the open stall barn. Cows are able to choose when to lay down and when to eat after the morning feeding. Photo credit: Dixie Crowe.
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Jersey cows wait for the class to leave the milking parlor before entering. Photo credit: Dixie Crowe.
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CSU equine sciences student created her own internship

3/8/2015

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PictureChief, an aged quarter horse who needed a job, cools off on the hot walker at Roger Daly Horses in Aubrey, Texas. Photo courtesy of Amy Morgan.
While many students headed for home after fall final exams, Amy Morgan headed for an internship in Aubrey, Texas with Roger Daly Horses.

She broadened her experiences in sale preparation and horse training, which culminated in an auction at Heritage Place Equine Auctions in Oklahoma.

“We prepare horses specifically for Bobby Cox or Cox Ranch and they do a lot of quarter racing horses, and other clients,” Morgan said. “We prepare them for sale, and then we start a lot of horses under saddle for other clients. People bring their horses that have poor behaviors and we try and repair those behaviors and send them home.”

While many internships in the equine program already have relationships with industry partners, Morgan was inspired to create her own internship after a visit to Roger Daly’s ranch during the spring ranches trip with the colt training instructor, John Snyder.

“Just having completed the colt training class, I said ‘oh this is where I want to be, this sounds great,’” Morgan said. “So I introduced myself to him and said ‘are you interested in having an intern? Because if you are, I want to be that intern.’”

In August she sent him her resume and schedule and she said she’d like to come down over the four to five weeks of winter break.  A typical day on her internship started at 7:30 a.m. She trained four 2-year-old horses, two cutters and two reiners. She lunged them in a round pen until they were tired. Then she put them on a walker.

“They learned a lot from the walker,” Morgan said. “They learn to respond to pressure from their halter, learn patience, to be polite around other horses, and they also cool down.”

Next they returned to their stall where they stood tied for about an hour while she groomed them and made sure they were show sheened slicking out for the sale.

After that, she worked with her four riding horses. These included an eight-year-old Warmblood eventer with a fear of water and things on the ground, and a four-year-old Warmblood just started   under the saddle and who will go on to be a jumper in the next phase of training.

Then she had and hour-long lunch break before resuming with a yearling Thoroughbred who had just been started under saddle and getting him prepared for the track. Finally, she worked with an aged quarter horse that came in with bucking issues.

“He got to the point where we were working on some basic reining moves, good stops and good turn-arounds,” Morgan said. “So that was a lot of fun for me, because it was just a new project.”  She also helped out wherever Mr. Daly needed her.

The last week of her internship, she went to the sale in Oklahoma and helped prepare the horses with final clippings and making sure they were groomed right for the sale ring.

“When I talked to him about doing the internship, he said ‘well, what would you like to do?’” Morgan said. “I want to see everything you do, I want to know all about it. So, he did his best to put me everywhere.”

Before coming into the equine sciences program, Morgan came from a strong jumping background and had been riding English since she was four, but said that western riding was newer to her as well as the colt starting. However, she had worked with green horses that had been started before.

The internship was a trial run for Morgan to see if training was what she wanted to do day-in and day-out.

“My plan is to do as many internships and as many work-studies or volunteer work as I possibly can in as many places as I can possibly get to,” Morgan said. “Just because I really have no idea what I want to do, yet.”

In terms of other areas in equine science she’d like to try, she said was interested in pedigree histories like Robin Glenn puts together for sale catalogs as well as teaching. For other students thinking about their internship requirement she has this advice:

“The first place to go is look and see if there’s an internship in place that does what you want to do,” Morgan said. “And if there’s not, or if it’s just not going to work for you, go and find the person you want to work for. If there’s a person you want to work for and if there’s a thing you want to be good at, go and find it because it’s not coming to you. You have to go to it.”

In terms of networking with the faculty in the equine program, Morgan said it’s been incredible experience.

“They’re our connection to the world,” Morgan said. “I’ve done a lot on my own at this point, but my networking really started with the faculty here. If you kind of want to know about somebody or you hear about them and you want to find a way to talk to them but you don’t know them, the faculty is there for you, and they’re invaluable.”


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Texas sunset at Roger Daly Horses. Photo courtesy of Amy Morgan.
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