11/27/17 Shadowing Day #1

8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
8 hours
Notes:
Go, Go, GO all the time!
He got several calls in the morning. Steadier in the afternoon. (Regular day)
Job seems to be ½ selling the products and ½ teaching the farmer new ways
Agronomy is more structured
With a PhD in Animal Science/Nutrition → Earn way more $$$$
Use the computer 2-3 times a day to run rations for people
Have about 150 farmers per month
Drive an average of 150 miles per day
Challenges: diseases, and cattle sometimes don’t perform 100% as they are supposed 2
At this time everyone was getting ready for spring calving stock
Possible trouble with men farmers because I’m a girl
This territory is best right now because the only territory in U.S. seeing growth
Wilmer and Sioux Falls Purina Plants
Reflection:
Today went really well. We went out to several different farms and observed the different
sets of cattle. Mostly calves. A lot of time was spent in the car so we spent a lot of time talking
about college and the careers that could come out of a degree in Animal Science. He mentioned
today that I am not the only person who has shadowed him. He actually gets people wanting to
shadow him very often. I found this interesting because I didn’t know that so many people were
interested in the feed consultant industry. He mentioned that he started out working in a small
town feed mill and then got more jobs within the mill as he got older. Also, he mentioned that
these jobs nowadays will not even consider hiring you if you do not have a four-year degree in
something.

11/28/17 Shadowing Day #2

8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
8 hours
Notes:
Protein → 50:25← 25% urea in that protein
“You will learn all about the different components in feed once you go to college.”
LOTS OF NUMBERS
When looking at cows we were looking for lumps of fat on top of hip bones
Working with cattle nutrition is the same essentially as ours we just eat different things
Gathered samples of different straw bales to make sure there wasn’t mold
Sample was sent to a lab for testing
Reflection:
Today we actually went through the different things that the farmer would see in his feed
ration sheet for all of his cattle. For instance, we went through protein. Each type of bovine
would have a different amount of protein which they would need in order to grow. Regular
calves would need about 12% protein. Whereas smaller calves would need more like 18-20%
protein in order to grow faster. A regular cow and steer would only need about 10 ½ -11%
protein and a heifer would need about 15% protein. I found all of this very interesting! You can
pretty much make the bovine grow however you want by watching what your feeding it. For
instance, if you want it short, you would feed it a lot of energy and if you wanted it to be tall and
bulky then you would feed it a lot of protein. I found out that a feed consultant does work with
an incredible amount of numbers. Some numbers that he used most often were like 50:25. The
first number being how much protein is in the feed and the second being how much urea is in
that certain protein.

11/29/27 Shadowing Day #3

8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
4 hours
Notes:
Each feed mill will be different
Some are old and rugged whereas others are brand new with technology doing the work
Went and had an early lunch with his boss ← Manager of Purina
Purina seeds comes from big association and sends it to a smaller company...etc.

Reflection:
Today was more of a reflection of what I learned over the past two days. We went and
had lunch with his boss at Purina seeds. He was very excited to see that there are more girls
getting involved in the agriculture careers and feed industry. He explained a lot about where
Purina seeds is located and how many different feed mills they supply to.