Dairy Cattle Judging is a hands-on course designed to train students to judge dairy cattle. Students learn how to evaluate conformation of cows compared to the ideal.
Students learn public speaking skills as they learn to defend their placings with oral reasons.
I coach the Dairy Cattle Judging Team in the fall for students interested in developing their skills further through intercollegiate competition. Students work as a group and are highly motivated by their concern for the cows, their responsibility to financially manage their business, and their responsibility to their peers in the group to individually pull their own weight. Dairy Cattle Breeding includes basic genetic principles and their application in the breeding of farm animals through selection and mating. The new technologies of genetic engineering and their applications in animal breeding are also explored. In teaching these courses, in my role as Advisor to the UVM Dairy Club, and in my limited research activities, my major interests revolve around the dairy cow and how we can genetically improve her.