It looks like a simple cow pasture, but there’s much more happening beneath the surface.
Students in Jennifer Gilbert Jenkins’ Pasture Management & Forages Production class are getting hands-on experience studying how pasture plants recover and compete for resources — right in SUNY Morrisville’s own fields.
As part of a pasture plant recovery and competition study, students are identifying and evaluating plant growth in the fields, taking a closer look at how different forage species respond to grazing and environmental conditions.
The study also has a practical application for the college’s dairy operation. Understanding how pasture plants recover, grow and compete can help inform pasture management and maintain productive grazing areas for livestock.
The lessons apply to pasture management for a variety of livestock, including cattle, goats, sheep and horses.
Gilbert Jenkins, associate professor of agricultural science, incorporates research into her classes, giving students opportunities to participate in studies that connect classroom concepts with real-world agricultural practices.
Morgan Craven, an agricultural science student, was identifying plants in a two-foot-by-two-foot study area and documenting broadleaf plants that were dying. She’ll return in six weeks to see whether the plants have recovered and begun growing again and to assess any changes in population abundance.
For Collin Newmark, an agricultural science student, the hands-on experience is exactly the kind of work he hoped to find at Morrisville.
Coming from New Jersey, Newmark was looking for an agricultural program that would give him opportunities to work directly with plants, ecology and agriculture.
“SUNY Morrisville was a good choice for me to pursue what I am passionate about,” he said while taking plant measurements.
That hands-on learning continued beyond the classroom. As part of his Morrisville experience, Newmark completed an internship with Western New York Crop Management Association, traveling to different farms to scout fields and collect data.
“I really enjoyed spending my days collecting field data and I made a lot of connections with growers,” he said. “My work experience on farms has given me experience in applying my academic knowledge to real-world crop production.”
