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FARM MANAGEMENT

Work Experience for Farm Management students includes milking, herd health, calves, and a variety of field work activities such as tillage, planting, and harvest. The students fit and show a string of dairy cattle at the local county fair. The Summer Experience in Farm Management introduces students to the modern farm as a business, which has as its objective the conversion of plants into milk and meat. All students will be asked to work long hours on occasion, but no more so than would normally be expected on a dairy farm. Students work approximately every other weekend.


Weekly meetings update the students about farm activities; a combination of dairy, crops and equine. Extended sessions on relevant topics such as nutrition, reproduction, mastitis management, animal health, and field crops will be held throughout the summer. Instructors include Miner Institute faculty members and graduate students. The small class size makes it possible to at least partially tailor the program to meet the needs of each student. Students interested in careers in veterinary medicine, farm management, vocational agriculture and agricultural extension have found this program to be particularly useful. Students will have the opportunity to enroll in an Artificial Insemination certification course offered in cooperation with personnel from a bull stud.

ENROLLMENTS, CREDITS, & COMPENSATION

This program is available to agriculture and life science students in their junior or senior years of study. Students are encouraged to register for college credit at their home institution, and are responsible for making arrangements for credits. This program is designed as a 4-credit course, although other arrangements may be made through the student’s home institution.


Each student’s wage for the semester is $3,000, this includes housing in the Middleton Miller Student Housing Complex and continental breakfast and lunch each weekday in our on-site cafeteria.  A refundable $100 security deposit for the room is deducted from the first paycheck.

interns with cows at Miner Institute

To apply*, complete the Summer Experience Application and provide all required documents to:

Wanda Emerich | Dairy Outreach Coordinator | Email

Miner Institute

1034 Miner Farm Rd. | P.O. Box 90
Chazy, New York 12921

(518) 846-7121, Ext. 117

(518) 846-8445 (Fax)

Required Documents:

  • A completed Summer Experience Application

  • Copy of college transcript

  • Two letters of recommendation, one must be from college advisor

  • Letter outlining career goals and reasons for application


* Non-US residents should contact Miner Institute for additional details prior to completing application process.

EQUINE MANAGEMENT

The emphasis of this program is the management of a commercial equine facility and improved horse handling and training skills. Students will learn ground training techniques including halter breaking, lungeing, longlining, and ground driving. The versatility of the Morgan and varied ages and abilities of horses at Miner Institute allow for students to experience many different disciplines to varying degrees: saddleseat, huntseat, dressage, western pleasure and driving. Students become proficient at stallion handling, semen collection, and processing as well as broodmare management. Students will have an opportunity to participate in other Miner Farm operations including milking, pasture management, and a variety of field work activities. All students will be asked to work long hours on occasion, but no more so than would normally be expected on a busy farm. Students work approximately every other weekend.


Sessions on relevant topics such as nutrition, reproduction, training, health and field crops will be held throughout the summer as well as occasional field trips. Instructors include Miner Institute faculty members and graduate students. The small group size makes it possible to tailor the program to better meet the needs of each student. Students interested in careers in stable or breeding management, agricultural extension, and veterinary medicine have found this program to be particularly useful.


Each student will choose a project horse to evaluate, train, and work towards marketing for sale. Responsibilities for this project will include working closely with Miner faculty to progress the horse's skills and may include preparing photographs and a video of the horse as well as accurately describing the horse and its strengths for advertising. Miner Institute's research program includes aspects in the equine area such as stallion semen preservation, nutrition, and horse behavior. If equine research is underway, students will be involved in aspects of data collection and evaluation working closely with the principal investigators.

ENROLLMENTS, CREDITS, & COMPENSATION

This program is available to agriculture and life science students in their junior or senior years of study. The number of students for the Equine Management program is limited to ensure the intensity of this “hands-on” experience. Equine Management applicants must be at least intermediate riders. Students are encouraged, but not required, to register for college credit at their home institution. Students are responsible for determining which option best suits their courses of study. These programs are designed as 4-credit courses, although other arrangements may be made through the student’s home institution.


Each student’s wage for the semester is $3,000, this includes housing in the Middleton Miller Student Housing Complex and continental breakfast and lunch each weekday in our on-site cafeteria.  A refundable $100 security deposit for the room is deducted from the first paycheck.

student in equine management with a stallion

To apply*, complete the Summer Experience Application and provide all required documents to:

Karen Lassell | Equine Manager | Email

Miner Institute

1034 Miner Farm Rd. | P.O. Box 90
Chazy, New York 12921

(518) 846-7121, Ext. 120

(518) 846-8445 (Fax)

Required Documents:

  • A completed Summer Experience Application

  • Copy of college transcript

  • ​Short video of you riding

  • Two letters of recommendation, one must be from college advisor

  • Letter outlining career goals and reasons for application


* Non-US residents should contact Miner Institute for additional details prior to completing application process.

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

The work experience for Agricultural Research students will include learning research techniques and processes in a variety of areas which might include nutrient management, dairy cattle nutrition, agronomy, reproductive physiology of dairy cattle and horses, and dairy cattle behavior. Forage quality assessment procedures will be taught in Miner Institute’s Forage Laboratory. Students may also gain work experience in the dairy research facility: feeding cows for individual feed intakes, measuring in situ digestibility in ruminally-cannulated cows, milk sampling, urine/fecal sampling, blood sampling, and assessing dairy cattle behavior. Research techniques for evaluating crop performance and ensiling practices will also be learned.


All students will be asked to work long hours on occasion, but no more so than would normally be expected in an agricultural research facility as a graduate student or technician. Students work approximately every other weekend.


Weekly meetings update the students about research and farm activities including dairy, crops, and equine. Extended sessions on relevant topics such as nutrition, reproduction, mastitis management, animal health and field crops will be held throughout the summer. Instructors include Miner Institute faculty members and graduate students. The small class size makes it possible to at least partially tailor the program to meet the needs of each student. Students will also participate in a weekly seminar series.

RESEARCH PROJECT

 

Each student will become involved in an independent study project in one of the areas which is the focus of Miner Institute’s research program: dairy nutrition, dairy behavior, equine behavior, dairy reproduction, equine reproduction, crops, nutrient management, and calf management. Each student will work with a faculty member to plan, conduct, and summarize the project. At the end of the summer, oral and written reports will be presented.

ENROLLMENTS, CREDITS, & COMPENSATION

 

This program is available to agriculture and life science students in their junior or senior years of study. Students are encouraged to register for college credit at their home institution. Students are responsible for making arrangements for credits. This program is designed as a 4-credit course, although other arrangements may be made through the student’s home institution.


Each student’s wage for the semester is $3,000, this includes housing in the Middleton Miller Student Housing Complex and continental breakfast and lunch each weekday in our on-site cafeteria. A refundable $100 security deposit for the room is deducted from the first paycheck.

a tractor used in the agricultural research program at miner institute

To apply*, complete the Summer Experience Application and provide all required documents by February 15th to:

Katie Ballard | Director of Research | Email

Miner Institute

1034 Miner Farm Rd. | P.O. Box 90
Chazy, New York 12921

(518) 846-7121, Ext. 112

(518) 846-8445 (Fax)

Required Documents:

  • A completed Summer Experience Application

  • A copy of college transcript

  • Two letters of recommendation, one from college advisor and one from a previous employer

  • Letter outlining career goals and reasons for application, include any research experience and skills in field crop or livestock production


* Non-US residents should contact Miner Institute for additional details prior to completing application process.

WATER QUALITY RESEARCH

Students will learn about all phases of Miner Institute’s nutrient management research program which aims to identify agricultural best management practices that enhance soil and water quality while maintaining farm profitability. Students will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of research trials, as well as conduct their own independent research project. Students will gain experience in all aspects of the research process including, soil and water sample collection, field data acquisition, field equipment maintenance/ programming, laboratory instrumentation/analytical methods, as well as basic data management and application.


Weekly meetings provide opportunities for communication across disciplines for all research staff at Miner Institute. Students will also participate in a weekly seminar series. Students will be asked to work long hours on occasion, but no more than would be expected in a research facility as a graduate student or technician. Students may work approximately every other weekend.

RESEARCH PROJECT

 

Each student will write a research proposal and conduct an independent study focused on a specific research question in the area of nutrient management and water quality. Students will attend lectures with other research interns where topics such as scientific writing techniques, experimental design and applied statistics are discussed. Each student will work with a faculty member to plan, conduct, and summarize their independent project. At the end of the summer, oral and written reports will be presented.

ENROLLMENTS, CREDITS, & COMPENSATION

 

This program is available to students in their junior or senior year of study in agronomy, environmental science, or a related discipline. Students are encouraged to register for college credit at their home institution. Students are responsible for making arrangements for credits. This program is designed as a 4-credit course, although other arrangements may be made through the student’s home institution.

Each student’s wage for the semester is $3,000, this includes housing in the Middleton Miller Student Housing Complex and continental breakfast and lunch each weekday in our on-site cafeteria.  A refundable $100 security deposit for the room is deducted from the first paycheck.

students on location taking water samples

To apply*, complete the Summer Experience Application and provide all required documents by February 15th to:

Laura Klaiber | Research Scientist | Email

Miner Institute

1034 Miner Farm Rd. | P.O. Box 90
Chazy, New York 12921

(518) 846-7121

(518) 846-8445 (Fax)

Required Documents:

  • A completed Summer Experience Application

  • A copy of college transcript

  • Two letters of recommendation, one from college advisor and one from a previous employer

  • Letter outlining career goals and reasons for application, include any research experience and skills


* Non-US residents should contact Miner Institute for additional details prior to completing application process.

BURKE HISTORY INTERNSHIP

The Burke History Internship program is financially supported through a scholarship fund established in 2018 to honor the late Dr. Joseph Burke who served as chair of Miner Institute’s board of trustees for 30 years, and his wife Joan T. Burke who served as chair of The Alice T. Miner Museum for nearly 20 years.  Both Dr. and Mrs. Burke were passionate about preserving the legacy of William and Alice Miner and carrying on their tradition of philanthropy in the North Country.


Burke Interns will work independently and within a small team at The Alice and the Institute to organize and promote community events and/or projects that help to preserve history relevant to the Miners and/or help to plan and organize new exhibits for The Heart’s Delight Farm Heritage Exhibit or The Alice T. Miner Museum. Interns will be given some latitude in choosing projects to work on based on their personal interests and what is happening at The Institute and The Alice.


Interns could design and develop a future exhibit. This could include developing a proposal for an exhibit installation; research for the project; and determining which images and objects would be appropriate for display to highlight the theme of the project.  Interns could work within the archive collection of Miner Institute or The Alice T. Miner Museum. This could include organizing and cataloguing a portion of the collection; rehousing objects within the collection; research and data entry. Interns could research a component of the Miner history for a presentation or an article.


This program is well suited to students pursuing careers in archives and records management, history, museum studies, or a related field. Applicants should be in their junior or senior year of study. Each student’s wage for the summer semester is $2,400. Students will work four days per week for the semester -- two days at Miner Institute and two days at The Alice T. Miner Museum. Students live in the Middleton Miller Student Housing Complex and are provided continental breakfast and lunch each weekday in our on-site cafeteria.  A refundable $100 security deposit for the room is deducted from the first paycheck.

students in the Burke Internship at the Alice T. Miner Museum

Application review will begin on January 31. 

To apply*, complete the Burke Internship Application and provide all required documents to:

Ellen Adams | Curator/Director | Email

The Alice T. Miner Museum

9618 U.S. 9, Chazy, NY 12921

(518) 846-7336

Required Documents:

  • A copy of college transcript, does not have to be official

  • Two letters of recommendation

  • Letter outlining career goals and reasons for application
     

* Non-US residents should contact Miner Institute for additional details prior to completing application process.

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