Students in the Southwest interested in the dairy industry have been facing an uphill battle in recent years with many universities shutting down dairy programs due to high upkeep costs.

This trend created the need for a program focused on educating students with career interests in advanced large-herd dairy management.

Designed with the sole purpose of filling that need, the Southern Great Plains Dairy Consortium (SGPDC), hosted by Clovis Community College in Clovis, New Mexico, was created in 2008 and has grown rapidly in student participation since then.

“Many dairy programs are diminishing all over the United States, but the interest is still there” said Robert Hagevoort, an extension dairy specialist at New Mexico State University and one of the program’s coordinators. “We created this program for those students interested in the industry as a way to get them out there on the dairies, learning through hands-on experiences.”

The six-week program includes classroom instruction by faculty members from throughout the country, who specialize in different areas of the industry, as well as trips to dairies that involve vital hands-on teaching experiences of material covered in the classroom.

Mike Tomaszewski, a professor at Texas A&M University and one of the program coordinators, explained that the program is further separated into two student groups to accommodate returning students who are further advanced in their studies.

“Session I is designed for students attending the program for the first time and teaches the basics of a dairy farm and the production process while Session II is for those students taking advanced courses,” said Tomaszewski.

Today, the Consortium faces a new challenge because the USDA Higher Education Grant that it has been operating on has expired, bringing long-term funding solutions to the forefront of many program leaders’ minds. Tomaszewski said that the program was run completely off of sponsor dollars for the first two years and the USDA grant paid for the past three years.

“We were on the Higher Education Grant and we got that extended through this year, so we are working to replace that grant with industry funding,” said Hagevoort.

“Because of the grant, we were able to put some sponsorship funding away and that is what we plan to use for next year, but the economic downturn has put us all in a pickle, and so it’s hard to find a deep pocket.”

Hagevoort only said they plan to work with sponsors on an endowment that could pay for the program in the coming years but only expressed optimism for this year’s program. As far as what’s new for this year, Hagevoort said that is left up to the instructors.

“We don’t determine what’s going to be taught,” Hagevoort said. “We talk to producers in the industry and ask them what is new and upcoming and then we try to find a professor or faculty member that might have that knowledge to come in and teach it so it’s always cutting-edge techniques that we are dealing with.”

Tomaszewski said it’s all about exposing the students to the latest, most up-to-date material. No program is the same, no lecture is the same, and no lab is the same.

“No class in the U.S. has a program like this and that makes us unique,” said Hagevoort. “All of the students that participate in our program love it so we just want to make sure we are around to share this great opportunity with them.” PD

Schmidt is a senior and studying agricultural communications at Purdue University.

PHOTO

The 2013 Southern Great Plains Dairy Consortium participants gather for a photo, sporting the Proud to Dairy shirts sponsored by Progressive Dairyman. Photo provided by SGPDC instructors Michael Tomaszewski and Robert Hagevoort.

RELATED RESOURCES

• See more group photos of the 2013 Southern Great Plains Dairy Consortium participants on Proud to Dairy.
• Read a past participant's experience at Kimmi Devaney's blog.