ABAC Fall Semester 2022 Update By Dr. Mary Ellen Hicks

Photo: New beef facility being built at ABAC. ABAC FALL SEMESTER 2022 UPDATE

By Dr. Mary Ellen Hicks, Professor, Animal Science, ABAC

Fall semester 2022 has begun at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. Fall semester not only brings a new freshman class onto campus; it also means that seniors are entering their final semester(s) of coursework while looking for positions to step into following their graduation.

The School of Agriculture and Natural Resources (SANR) saw an increase in students pursuing degrees under the SANR umbrella. As of Aug. 8, the enrollment within the SANR was at 1,482 students – an increase of 4.5 percent from the fall of 2021 (1,432 students). The School of Agriculture and Natural Resources has seen continued growth over the last 10 years. Over that time frame, there has been a 68.8-percent growth in the SANR – a rise of 604 students. The following are the Bachelor of Science degree programs with their percent increase seen in student enrollment this fall: Agriculture – 565 students (2.35 percent); Agribusiness – 292 students (5.8 percent); Agricultural Communication – 39 students (13.33 percent); Agricultural Education – 234 students (10.9 percent); Environmental Horticulture – 97 students (no change); Natural Resource Management – 255 students (1.6 percent).

The two concentrations under the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture program that are directly linked to livestock are the animal science concentration and the livestock production concentration. Fall enrollment numbers are strong. At the beginning of fall semester, there were 129 students pursuing livestock production concentration degrees. There are 209 students pursuing Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degrees in the animal science concentration. The majority of those students desire to pursue careers in veterinary medicine.

L to R: Calving season has begun at ABAC; Cattlemen’s officer team greets ABAC students at the annual fall club picinic; students help out at the ABAC Beef Unit processing calves this summer.

Animal science courses are in high demand within the SANR and are at capacity enrollment typically each semester. During fall semester, the three animal science faculty offer a total of 12 animal science courses ranging from introductory courses to courses covering the beef industry and forage production, meat production and processing, food animal evaluation, equine production management, poultry science and dairy science. The same number of animal science courses are offered during each spring semester but differ in content. Spring courses include reproductive physiology, a senior beef production capstone course, and an equine exercise physiology course, along with other courses that are also offered during the fall term. The Introduction to Animal Science course is required by all students receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture. The course is also populated by students from all areas of the SANR (agribusiness, agricultural communication, and agricultural education) as well as biology students from the School of Arts and Sciences at ABAC.

Over this past summer, 170-plus students completed graded internships in 25 states. Internship sites ranged from cattle operations in the northeast United States to Wyoming, and from Texas to Florida. Most of these students will be graduating within the next 12 months. Based on internship employer responses, these students demonstrated skills showing that they were ready to enter the workforce; they also demonstrated soft skills related to work attendance and reliability. The School of Agriculture and Natural Resources will be hosting their fall “Career Connections” on Nov. 8. Businesses, farms and ranches looking for interns and permanent career positions will be talking with students and taking resumes from those students interested in positions offered by the industry personnel attending the annual career event.

Experiential learning sites/labs are nearing completion on foundation-acquired property. The new beef unit learning site will have their working pens and pastures ready for lab use within the next 12 months. A hydraulic squeeze chute and covered pen area will allow for cattle use labs for multiple classes offered each semester. The forage base at the new facility is a bahiagrass forage base, which differs from the bermudagrass forage base of the existing cattle facility. Because of the differences in forage base, students will be able to see the nutritional differences between the forages demonstrated by way of animal performance and supplemental nutritional needs.

The ABAC Cattlemen’s Association student chapter began the fall semester with a standingroom-only event. Georgia Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice President Dale Sandlin spoke at the first meeting on challenges and issues facing Georgia producers as well as producers on a national level. The new ABAC President – Dr. Tracy Brundage – attended the meeting, which offered an opportunity for the students to meet her and for her to meet them. The club officers are working on the speaker list for the remainder of the college year through May 2023.

If you have an interest in participating in the Career Connection event in November or serving as an internship site for the summer of 2023, please reach out to the Dean’s office in the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources at 229-391-4790.

L to R: More than 100 students attend the first Cattlemen’s meeting; Dr. Tracy Brundage, ABAC’s new president, visits the first Cattlemen’s meeting; Dale Sandlin, EVP of Georgia Cattlemen’s Association, speaks at the meeting.

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