Concordia Nebraska agriculture students participate in agriculture tour around Nebraska

Concordia University, Nebraska agriculture students recently participated in a one-day agriculture tour around Nebraska, stopping at a dairy farm, visiting irrigation manufacturing, a feedlot and learning about genetic selection in pigs.  

 This tour was organized and hosted by the Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska (AFAN). Dr. Andrea Watson, associate professor of agricultural sciences, and Rebekah Kraeger, Uzziah Ag Scholars program director, accompanied the trip.  

The trips were open to all agriculture students, including agriculture science, agribusiness and agriculture education, as well as to any students enrolled in an agriculture class this semester.  

The first stop was Tuls Dairies outside of Surprise, Nebraska. The dairy has approximately 7,000 cows that are milked three times every day. The students were able to see a cow give birth to a calf at this stop. This dairy is involved with the new DARI processing plant that is being built on the south side of Seward, Nebraska. They are working to produce a shelf stable milk product called Moo’V. 

The second stop was Lindsay Manufacturing in Lindsay, Nebraska. While they make many different products, they are best known for pivot manufacturing. The company started as a single gas station in 1951 and has since grown to be a global company with locations in countries like Turkey, Brazil and Italy. Another product they manufacture are moveable traffic barriers that are used on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  

“This was such a fun and learning-packed day. I am very grateful to AFAN and their supporting organizations for supporting Concordia University, Nebraska students and putting together a great trip!”

The group also visited Beller Feedlot just west of Lindsay, Nebraska. Here, calves are processed using the lot’s fully autonomous chute. This is used to collect the calves’ body weights while several people work together to give them vaccines, ear tags and deworming medication. The students saw high moisture corn being processed and put into a bunker. The lot’s use of both open feedlot pens and a deep-bedded confinement barn for cattle allowed students to compare and contrast the benefits and challenges of each system.  

The final stop was at Pillen Family Farms headquarters in Columbus, Nebraska. The students learned about how genetic selection is being used to develop pigs with better meat quality and the impact of current research to develop more pork products. Pillen Family Farms works with DNA Genetics, a well-known swine genetics company.  

“It is extremely beneficial for students to see many of the concepts that we have talked about in class,” said Watson. “For example, high moisture corn harvest, processing calves, feeding and milking cows, feeding calves colostrum … this trip has given us a lot of material to discuss and unpack.” 

This was the first time that Concordia’s agriculture program partnered with AFAN for this type of activity. Watson and Dr. Kimberly Clark, associate professor of Agricultural Science, hope that it becomes an annual event every fall.  

“This was such a fun and learning-packed day,” said Watson. “I am very grateful to AFAN and their supporting organizations for supporting Concordia University, Nebraska students and putting together a great trip!” 

The agriculture industry is essential for the growth and prosperity of the world, including the people, plants and animals who live in it. Concordia University, Nebraska’s agriculture programs equip students with the skills they need to be a good steward of God’s earth, to think critically and solve the problems facing the agriculture industry today.