Wayne County Junior Leaders tour beef handling facility

Wayne County Junior Leaders met April 29 for a tour of the beef handling facility at The Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute.

The tour was led by Casey Meek, who is the livestock manager at the beef facility. The ATI breeding beef herd consists of around 100 crossbred Angus, full blooded Angus and Murray Grey Cattle.

Ohio State ATI’s beef cattle handling facility is the only one of its kind in Ohio. The facility was designed by Temple Grandin, who is a well-know animal behaviorist. The facility includes a curved corral, dual chute system with hydraulic squeeze chute, breeding boxes and sorting pens.

The goal of the facility is to make handling of the cattle as stress free as possible and to avoid accidents between humans and the cattle.

Ohio State ATI students help with all aspects of the farm including feeding, cleaning pens, breeding cows, calving, branding, hoof trimming, vaccinating, and dehorning.

The facility provides students with hands on learning during their time at ATI whether they come from a beef background or not.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Wayne County Junior Leaders tour beef handling facility