Area sow farm welcomes SWCC students

LENOX – Taurus Sow welcomed Southwestern Community College (SWCC) students to the farm for an out-of-class experience that complimented their breeding and genetics course.

The collaboration between AMVC Management Services and SWCC exposed these students to a modern 4,700-head sow farm near Lenox. Before the trip to the farm, AMVC employees visited the classroom to discuss biosecurity, animal care and the AMVC production system. The following week, the students came on site and learned from Dan Weber, AMVC sow production manager, and AMVC sow farm managers Amanda Winslow and Joe Clemens.

The students rotated throughout the barn and learned about record-keeping, herd health and genetics, and helped with various tasks like assisting sows giving birth and artificially inseminating sows.

“The students especially enjoyed breeding and helping the birthing sows,” said Beth Baudler, SWCC breeding and genetics course instructor. “None of the students had ever been on a sow farm before and this gave them first-hand experience on what actually goes on day-to-day. Real world knowledge is important for them to garner as they enter the work force.”

AMVC was excited to host such a bright group of students to the farm.

“They asked a lot of good questions about the hows and whys of the sow farm,” said Winslow, sow farm manager at Taurus Sow. “My goal of for the afternoon was to have the students understand the whole picture, not just what they read about in a textbook.”

Representatives from AMVC Management Services and SWCC hope this out-of-the-classroom opportunity is continued for future students. AMVC Management Services is headquartered in Audubon and manages 115,000 sows across seven states.