Welcome back once again to my internship blog! This post is for the fun adventures I had last workweek from July 5th – July 8th.
On July 5th, we had the day off due to the Fourth of July, so I got to spend the day with my friend.
That Tuesday, I got to go on a field trip with a CCE Equine staff member. We met a new farmland owner on their land to give them feedback on their business plan to turn the land into an equine boarding and lesson operation. It was impressive to see the amount of forethought in several different areas that goes into planning a horse farm. There was a lot of talk about water on the property, which wasn’t a topic I was too familiar with. I knew that standing water on the property could be a potential breeding ground for mosquitos and the diseases they can carry, but beyond that I didn’t know much about how water flows on a property or how it can be drained or redirected for dry pastures and minimal flooding. We looked at the slope of the land and the current water flow, and then talked about how the direction of water flow would change and be redirected when the barn is constructed. We talked about drainage systems as well, and the pros and cons of each. Other topics were also discussed, and we ended up staying there for 2.5 hours, which was much longer than we were expecting.
On Wednesday, I shadowed the local farrier in order to spend the day on horse farms and connect with horse owners. This was a super cool experience because I saw a lot of private backyard horse farms, which have different priorities than horse farms serving a business purpose such as boarding or breeding. Farms that are also businesses usually need to pay more attention to keeping a nice appearance in order to attract business, whether that be people taking riding lessons or potential boarders. Meanwhile, backyard farms are often only keeping horses as a hobby, and thus don’t need to make their land look as nice as long as it’s still functional to their purposes.
On Thursday, things were a bit crazy in the CCE Saratoga Office as usual. The Saratoga County Fair is coming up within the month, and a lot of things have been going on to help prepare for it. At the nearby fairgrounds, there was Pullorum testing for chickens that were to be shown at fair. Considering my pre-vet background, my supervisor thought it would be a cool experience to watch and help out with, as well as to serve as a mini-break from my HFIP project to refresh my mind. It was a cool opportunity, and I learned all about Pullorum testing, chased a chicken that escaped, and spoke with the USDA Licensed Vet Tech administering the test about what it was like to work in veterinary medicine in an agricultural setting under the government.
And that’s all for now. I plan for getting the week of July 12th-15th up soon, so stay tuned!