March has begun and everyone here on the farm is looking forward to the warmer spring weather and hoping for a break from the heavy snowfall we experienced in February. It’s almost time to start opening the doors and curtains to let in the fresh spring air. Although we had a cold winter, the cows have still been performing well as usual, with a herd average of 97 lbs of milk, 3.17% protein, and 4.39% butterfat.
We’ve had some exciting things happening on the farm recently, including our annual Kiss a Cow event that we host with United Way of the Adirondack Region. The fundraiser raised more than $13,000 for programs that support ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) families in our region, who sometimes find themselves a small emergency away from serious financial distress. Multiple New York State leaders and United Way members showed up to kiss our beloved cow “Supernova”, who has become somewhat of a local celebrity after appearing on multiple local news stations. Miner Institute is a very special place that makes an effort to be involved with the community and places importance on public outreach whether it is through fundraisers or teaching local students about farming and agriculture. Although we’re always dedicated to keeping our facility clean and well-kept, we made sure to put in extra effort for our visitors by adding extra sawdust in the walkway, cleaning up the surrounding area, and washing up Supernova to make her as presentable as possible.
Another exciting thing we look forward to every March is interviewing applicants for our Summer Experience in Farm Management internship. The application deadline for our program was February 15, so now that we have received all of the applications it is time to start looking through our pool of applicants and having phone interviews with them. Something unique about our internships at Miner Institute is that prior experience working on a farm is not necessary. We simply take dedicated, hard-working individuals who get to learn all the aspects of running a successful dairy farm, no matter what their background is. Many of our interns in the past have enjoyed their experience so much that they return for job positions, yearlong internships, graduate studies, or simply just to visit every so often.
— Ella Shamus-Udicious