Campus Location: Calmar
Program Entry: Enrollment may occur during any term. Fall term is the start of the program course sequence.
Award: Associate of Applied Science degree
Description: NICC is recognized globally for Dairy Science education. The world-class facilities at Iowa’s Dairy Center are one-of-a-kind. Students are in a classroom environment and within minutes they move to a modern dairy facility for hands-on practical education.
Iowa’s Dairy Center has the latest in Dairy Science technology for training the next generation of dairy professionals. The facility includes a robotic milking system, as well as the traditional parallel and herringbone parlors. Additionally, the Dairy Center has modern calf, heifer and dry cow facilities. Furthermore, the Dairy Center offers the latest in agronomic/soil conservation practices producing high quality forages for the dairy operation.
The Dairy Science Technology program boasts a multitude of successful alumni. Career opportunities include, but are not limited to the following:
- Returning, modernizing and becoming the next generation of their family dairy business.
- Management positions on progressive, modern dairy operations.
- Dairy service industry careers which include the AI industry, milking equipment positions (especially robotics), dairy field representatives, dairy feed sales and veterinary clinics.
- Starting their own dairy farm operations.
Dairy Science students are trained in many areas of animal husbandry including, but not limited to the following:
- Artificial insemination
- Vaccinations and treatments including IV, Sub-Q and IM
- Ration evaluation, balancing, mixing and delivery
- Feed harvest, storage and nutrient testing
- Genomics and sire selection
- Milk sampling, culturing and milk harvest prep procedures
- Milk marketing and feed purchasing
- Facility design of parlors, freestalls and manure storage
- Neonatal care of dairy calves, plus colostrum management and replacement heifers
- Financial analysis, including cost of production and profitability and applying for loans with financial institutions
Students may be responsible for providing their own transportation to field trips.
Program Learning Outcomes:
- Student will be able to describe the global dairy industry.
- Student will be able to create a Dairy Herd Management database.
- Student will be able develop a dairy herd replacement strategy.
- Student will be able to build a dairy herd feeding program.
- Student will be able construct milk harvest protocols.
- Student will be able to a create a bio-secure environment to house dairy cattle.
- Student be able to design a dairy herd breeding program.
- Student will be able to assess a dairy financial database.
Enrollment Process: See Enrollment Process .
Minimum Credits: 69
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