Ames, IA. – On Sunday, March 27^th, the Dairy Science Club at Iowa State University hosted the 93rd annual Dairy Science Banquet. Animal science faculty, club members, and alumni are invited each year to recognize departmental and club success. The banquet was held in-person, after a virtual celebration the previous year, with 120 attendees.

Congratulations to ISU Animal & Dairy Science students for their second place finish at the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge last week.

Twenty students from Iowa State participated, consisting of 4 competitors in the national Dairy Challenge contest, 15 participants in the Dairy Challenge Academy, and a member of the social media corps. The Dairy Challenge is a farm evaluation event that seeks to train tomorrow’s dairy industry leaders and connect them with current industry partners. This year’s national event took place in Green Bay, WI.

Q&A with the Hardcore Carnivore

Jess Pryles of Hardcore Carnivore is a communications professional from Melbourne, Australia, an urban area with a population of 5 million people. Pryles is currently a student in the Meat Science graduate certificate program at Iowa State University. She grew up loving food, however she didn’t feel like she was confident in cooking meat properly.

On a trip to the United States, she discovered that brisket in America and Australia were very different. This led her to start researching meat cuts and how meat differs from various cattle breeds. The more research she did, the more fascinated she become with learning about meat science. “The agriculture industry is so welcoming to those that want to learn,” Pryles said.

Wes Schweer’s college path took more twists and turns than he could have ever predicted. He originally came to Iowa State to major in Animal Science with the intent to pursue a veterinary career but decided to finish with his bachelor’s degree and proceed to enter the workforce. Like all good stories his path doesn’t end there; when Schweer was looking for jobs his senior year he didn’t find anything that quite fit, so he decided to stay and pursue his Master’s degree which guided him into also receiving his PhD in swine nutrition in 2018.

Victoria Vail graduated from Iowa State in 2018 with her bachelor’s degree in animal science. Currently, Victoria owns and operates Dog Days Dubuque. Her company’s goal is to provide a safe and fun environment for dogs to be at while their owners are at work. She is there around the clock to keep things running smoothly, as they get about 20 to 25 dogs who attend each day. The dogs they take care of can exercise, socialize and learn during their time there. Victoria and her team also provide different training sessions for dogs of all ages.

On March 2nd, the Department of Animal Science got to hold it's very first dog agility class in the Hansen arena. Sixteen dog/handler teams from the local community will be training for 6 weeks, assisted by animal science undergraduate students. Cheryl Morris is working with 24 undergraduate students who signed up for an Independent Study to learn about various dog training activities including agility training, service dog training and behavior modification. 

The Iowa State University Meat Laboratory recently hosted the Iowa Meat Processors Association Convention Seminar on February 18th. Attendees learned from our talented team about injecting, tumbling and marination of pork, general cutting of boxed beef, cutting tests and costing, as well as antioxidants and ground beef packaging. 

We also recently held the Fresh Pork Processing short course for participants to expanding their knowledge of the pork processing industry. Topics covered included: animal handling, pork harvest, pork carcass fabrication, accelerate (hot boning) processing, pork quality, fresh sausage production and more. 

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Upcoming educational opportunities at the Iowa State Meat Laboratory include:

The Iowa State University Meat Laboratory hosted the 44th edition of the Iowa State University Meat Evaluation Contest on Saturday, February 26, 2022. Nearly 65 students represented teams from Kansas State University – Manhattan; North Dakota State University – Fargo; Oklahoma State University – Stillwater; Purdue University – West Lafayette, IN; South Dakota State University – Brookings; The Ohio State University – Columbus; University of Illinois – Champaign/Urbana; University of Missouri – Columbia; University of Nebraska - Lincoln; and Iowa State University - Ames competed in the event.

When Taylor Patterson is not on campus excelling in her studies here at Iowa State University, she is out making history.