Tended by 39 full-time employees in the departments of dairy and animal science, veterinary science, and poultry science, plus 70 to 80 students—32 of whom live in dormitories located just a few steps from where the animals bed down—the college’s livestock perform a variety of services. The dairy herd provides milk for the University Creamery and the dining halls. The swine and dairy operations supply most of the manure that is spread on the University’s farm fields. Spring lambs, finished beef cattle, and hogs are sold off to breeders or meat processors. The meats laboratory uses sheep, cattle, and hogs for teaching, research, and meat sales every Friday throughout the school year. Almost all of Penn State’s animals are used in research projects, as living visual aids for teaching, and as an educational attraction for visitors, tourists, and schoolchildren. According to coordinator Randy Swope, who supervises livestock operations in dairy and animal science, 30 or more active research projects involving large animals take place each year.

Although the numbers often vary, the herds currently include 723 Yorkshire swine, 423 Dorset sheep, 357 Holstein dairy cattle (including 180 milking cows), and 323 Angus and crossbred beef cattle. In addition, Animal Operations cares for about 200 deer and 38 quarter horses. The poultry facility houses thousands of turkeys and chickens (see “For the Birds”). The veterinary science department also operates its own dairy farm to study diseases such as mastitis. The horse herd, managed by Ward Studebaker, is used for classes in equine science. The horses graze on about 50 acres of pasture. Studebaker keeps a mix of foals, mares, and yearlings to give students the chance to work with every aspect of horse production.

While sales of animals and milk offset a large part of these farms’ budget, Penn State’s farms would not break even in the real world. “Our focus is research as well as managing the animal herds,” Swope explains. “As a general rule, it costs us two dollars to make one dollar, but a large part of that is paying employees. To meet our research mission, we have to employ more people than a typical farm.”

The milk produced by the cows is marketed through Land O’ Lakes milk cooperative and then sold to the University Creamery. “We go through Land O’ Lakes because there are times of the year when the creamery doesn’t need all the milk we supply, or they might need more than we can supply,” Swope says. “Land O’ Lakes has the resources to handle any excess or shortages.” Beef cattle and culled dairy cattle are sold to various packing plants, including Moyer Packing Co., although a few cattle are sold to the Penn State Meats Laboratory for student classes and meat sales. Hogs are sold to Hatfield Quality Meats and other processors, and lambs are marketed—mostly as breeding stock—through several animal sale businesses. The wool from the sheep herd is marketed through the Centre County Wool Pool, an organization that markets to wool buyers nationwide.

“Often, the price you get for wool doesn’t cover the cost of shearing, but the sheep still have to be sheared,” Swope explains. Breeding animals are sold to producers as well. Horses that have outgrown Penn State’s needs are sold to private owners and hobbyists.