Well, my time here is up even though I wish it wasn’t. This has been one wonderful summer packed with learning about goats, gaining valuable animal experience, and developing myself as a professional.
Quick refresher about myself – My name is Patrice and I’m originally from Minnesota. Currently, I attend Iowa State University with a major in Animal Science. My interests include rehabilitation, ethology, and nutrition. I enjoy spending my free time hanging out with friends, running, coaching gymnastics, watching movies, reading, baking, and cuddling with my puppies.
Ready to find out what I learned in the past 10 weeks?
- Feeding
- Rotational grazing – every week the goats are moved to a new paddock of fresh pasture to maximize forage growth and efficiency and prevent internal parasites
- Medical treatment – vaccinations, delousing, & copper supplements
- Trimming hooves
- Ear tagging – identification is key to tracking family lineages
- Weaning babies
- Driving the tractor
- Fence repairs
- Processing fiber – skirt, clean, process, & transform into beautiful finished products
- Knitting
- Weaving
Not only did I learn, improve, and master numerous technical skills, I also gained important life skills.
- Problem solving
- Communication skills
- Leadership
- How to be a professional
And I can’t forget the amazing family I had the privilege of spending my time with. They were so welcoming the minute I walked through the door. On top of farming, we camped, hiked, swam, watched movies, ran, and biked. Oh, and ate ice cream. LOTS and LOTS of ice cream! I even got to ride a camel at the Renaissance Festival.
If you haven’t noticed yet, I LOVED IT. I can’t express my gratitude to the animals, the farm, and the family. This was one extraordinary experience I will never forget.
