Adria Russell is a rising sophomore studying animal science with a minor in agriculture business at The Pennsylvania State University. Both sets of Adria’s grandparents owned dairy farms, and she grew up helping to feed calves and make hay on their farms. Now, she raises show heifers and cows at home with her family where they currently milk five cows and sell raw milk, with each cow known by name.
This summer, she made the transition to work on a large-scale, progressive dairy herd as an on-farm intern at Kulp Family Dairy, LLC in Martinsburg, PA where they milk over 2,700 cows across three farms. Adria works on the main farm where they milk 1,500 head a day.
She has learned that there is a different mindset in this type of operation. The Kulps are very focused on allowing their employees to have a work-life balance.
“I really like how on a bigger dairy, you have that opportunity to have a life outside of the farm,” Adria shared.
She decided to apply and accept this on-farm internship to help her gain experiences in the dairy industry and narrow down some ideas she has for her future career.
“I’ve always had an interest in working in a lab setting, but I also really like the idea of working hands-on with animals. I’m trying to decide whether I want to be in the barn every day or if I’d rather do field work or work in an office all day,” Adria added. “I wanted to get a head start on having an internship that would benefit my future career, but also my animals back home.”
As with any job or internship, there were learning opportunities and challenges to overcome. For Adria, she had to navigate a language barrier between her and many of the other employees.
“The biggest challenge for me was getting through the language barrier. All the farms I’ve been around have mainly had English-speaking employees. Here, the vast majority are Spanish-speaking employees. It was good that I learned Spanish and took Katie Dotterer’s class. I loved it,” she shared, referencing a “Spanish for Agriculture” course she was able to take at no cost as part of her on-farm internship.
Throughout the internship, Adria also gained experience working with software like Cow Manager and Dairy Comp and hands-on experience treating animals.
“I’ve gotten to shadow almost every employee on the farm. In the herdsman office, I gave Lutalyse and GnRH shots for breeding programs and helped treat sick cows by giving IVs,” she shared.
Her favorite memory from the summer was learning how to breed, especially with her co-workers there to cheer her on with friendly competition.
“They were secretly rooting for me. They would laugh if I would fail because they have all been in the same shoes. The best moment for me was whenever another employee was practicing on the same cows as me, but I got through twice as many times as he did,” Adria said as she reflected on her experiences with breeding.
Each on-farm intern is encouraged to complete a research project throughout the summer to benefit their host farm. Adria chose to focus on the off-site heifer raising facilities that Kulp Family Dairy utilizes. Because heifers are grown at five different locations, she wanted to research if there was a correlation between how they were raised and how they turn out as a cow.
“They are putting up a new transition barn and another heifer barn at Farm Three. So if there’s a specific farm that’s lacking, then that needs to be a higher priority to get heifers out of,” she explained.
This internship allowed Adria to hone in on her skills and make decisions about her future – coming to the realization that she loves being in the barn every day.
“You are getting to experience the nitty-gritty and what it’s really like to be working on the farm, so it’s a really good experience. Whether I end up doing herd management or reproduction specifically, I definitely see myself being in the barn every day,” she said. “Even if you aren’t 100% sure about what you want to do after college, I would recommend [this internship] to others. You can figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are.”
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The Dairy Excellence Foundation, the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association provide $3,000 grants to support the on-farm internship program each summer. Learn more.