Northern Crops Institute’s (NCI) Summer Ag Academy.
 | Author:
Mikayla Kraft, MT43 News Correspondent
MT43 News School Correspondent |
Northern Crops Institute’s (NCI) Summer Ag Academy
Mikayla Kraft
MT43 News Correspondent
From the 13th through the 18th, I had the opportunity to travel to Fargo, ND to participate in the Northern Crops Institute’s (NCI) Summer Ag Academy. This was the first academy the NCI hosted and the sponsors covered all costs of the tuition, tours and hands-on experience, and food and lodging. The only thing that they would not cover was the cost of gas. Students from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota were invited to attend the program and a total selection of sixty students would be accepted into the program. This would also be equivalent to two college credits that can be transferred to any school in the U.S.
When this program was brought to my attention by my FFA advisor, I jumped at the opportunity to grow my knowledge and gain new experiences. I was accepted as one of the sixty students and worked tirelessly to earn the money to travel the 800 miles to enhance my education. I would not have been able to participate in this program without the help of the Broadwater County community.
I attended as the only student from Montana. Being the only student from this area, I learned so much about interactions with those of other cultures. I learned more about an agricultural college that may be in my top sights for my future college career and the branches that surround agriculture. I attended as a student in the animal science track and I got to learn about the dairy, beef, swine, sheep, and feed mill industries. We had hands-on experience with many things, but overall, my favorites were the 10,000-head dairy farm and the canulated jersey steer. The dairy farm was an amplified version of our dairy farm and I got to see the commercial dairy industry and how much hard work goes into creating the cheese, yogurts, milk, butter, etc. that is seen in every grocery store. A canulated steer is a steer that has surgery performed to have a hole in its body, into the rumen, to aid in studies about the ruminant digestive system. This does not hurt the cattle or affect the life of the animal in any way. We also had lecture times each morning that mainly focused on livestock nutrition and the importance of microbes, enzymes, minerals, fats, protein, etc. that surrounds livestock nutrition.
A program in North Dakota is almost like a foreign affair to this community, but you, the community of Broadwater County, helped an average high school student attend a college camp that will help me secure my future in the agricultural industry. I have seen many other students in the Townsend school system attend programs and camps with help from the community as a whole. You, the community of Broadwater County are invested in the future generation and their security and education and I thank you. Broadwater County has been and always will be an undying supporting family.
Article Images
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PhotoCredit: Mikayla Kraft
Image 1 Caption: Feeling the inside of a rumen on a cannulated jersey steer
Image 2 Caption: My roommate and new friend, Elle, from Minnesota
Image 3 Caption: Carousel milking parlor at a dairy farm of 10,000 jersey/holstein cattle
Image 4 Caption: A lecture given by an animal science graduate student from NDSU
