DAIRY CHALLENGE VET
Dairy Challenge Vet is a competition designed to assess students’ knowledge of current recommended dairy practices and principles of dairy farm management. It provides students with the opportunity to evaluate management practices of a host dairy and present their findings in front of a panel of representatives from the dairy industry. Students are grouped in teams of three to four individuals. Teams receive farm records and spend two hours at the host farm, evaluating all aspects of the operation, including reproduction, housing, milking procedures, nutrition, etc. Then teams prepare a 15-minute presentation and present in front of a panel of judges. 10 minutes are allotted for questions from the judges’ panel after each presentation.
Visit the official North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge Website at: www.dairychallenge.org, specifically the “DC Vet” tab to learn more!
There is no registration fee - it is FREE for students to participate! All meals and the hotel room for Thursday night are sponsored by Merck Animal Health and are at NO COST to participating students. New this year, we are guaranteeing spots in the symposium for the first 30 people that sign up and participate in dairy challenge. However, if you sign up and do not participate you will automatically forfeit your deposit regardless of your attendance at the Saturday night banquet.
Interested in competing? Within the FAMSS registration email there will be a link to sign up for Dairy Challenge Vet, it is listed below as well. You will receive a follow-up email from the Dairy Challenge Planning Committee in the following weeks confirming your participation.
2024 EVENT SCHEDULE:
Wednesday, March 20th:
Teams Receive Farm Materials via email/online dropbox
Thursday, March 21st:
Students arrive to Columbus
6:30-9:00 PM: Dinner at Varsity Club (278 W Lane Ave. Columbus OH 43201)
*Order of presentations will be determined at dinner
Friday, March 22nd:
6:30-6:40 AM: Arrive to OSU Vet School to board bus (1900 Coffey Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210)
6:45 AM: Bus departs to go to farm (bagels will be provided for breakfast on the bus)
7:45 AM-9:30 AM: On-farm evaluation, time to talk to farm owners/managers
9:30 AM: Depart farm for Vet School (room assignments will be given on the bus ride back to OSU)
10:30AM-1:00 PM: Time to prepare presentations and eat lunch
1:00 PM: All presentations are uploaded
1:15-4:10 PM: Student presentations (25 mins total/group (15-minute presentation with 10 minutes for judge questions)
Experienced division – Veterinary Medical Academic Building 084
Inexperienced division - Veterinary Medical Academic Building 215
*Presentation times will be announced after the number of teams that register are finalized*
4:10-4:30 PM: Judges deliberate
4:30-5:00 PM: Judges meet with students as a group and discuss their conclusions
5:00 PM: FAMSS welcome dinner, registration, and announcement of winners!
Please reach out to osucvmfac@gmail.com with any questions!
