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Editor's note: This is the first installment of a four-part series on dirty jobs at SIUC. The series will run in the next three Thursday editions.
SIUC University Farms give a new meaning to hands-on learning.
Students who are studying farming have the chance to stick their hands in a cow's anal cavity, clean distillers and scoop out buckets of wastewater while manure falls on them.
Jarrett Nehring, director of university farms, said getting dirty is the only constant
"When you have to deal with the amount of cattle and fertilizer we do, anything can happen," Nehring said. "There isn't a job out here where you won't come back dirty."
Manure Maneuver
George Wiedlocher gives cattle a helping hand in an uncomfortable way through the anal cavity.
Wiedlocher, the supervising farm foreman, is responsible for operations at the Beef Evaluation and Bull Test Station. His tasks range from putting his hand into the rear of a cow for fecal sampling to putting his hand in the rear of a cow for artificial insemination all the way to putting his hand in the rear of a cow for pregnancy checks.
Wiedlocher said the process is even dirtier in the summer months because of the cow's eating habits.
"When the cows are out in pasture during the summer, they are eating green grass instead of hay so ... yeah ... it gets messy." Wiedlocher said. "Then they will start flinging their tail and it will get all over."
Though the process is a dirty one, Wiedlocher said it is important. Through fecal samples, the students and farmers are able to research the effects of byproduct grain and measure fat content and other nutritional values. Pregnancy checks allow the farmers to examine the development of a calf.
The Vault
Herder foreman Chet Stuemke has no doubt he has to deal with the dirtiest job on the farm.
Stuemke, who supervises over the Dairy Center, is responsible for making sure "the vault" is cleaned once in the fall and once in the spring. The vault is an underground chamber just big enough for a person to scoop out the 1,500 gallons of wastewater it contains from the dairy farm.
Stuemke said one person climbs down into the chamber and hands five-gallon buckets of wastewater up to another person while manure falls down from the walls.
When the vault is not being cleaned, Steumke could be doing anything from helping deliver a calf to transporting manure for fertilizer. Steumke said moving the manure is the worst after rain.
"The manure will get all over you if you have to move it after some rain," Steumke said. "That's how I like to train my new guys."
Piggy Back Ride
The pigs at SIUC farms are not willing to go to any market, which makes Tom Rosenthal's job one of the most difficult dirty jobs at the farms.
Rosenthal, the swine manager at the farms, has to make sure the pigs get to the market by herding them into a truck. In order to herd them, he said he uses their flight pattern.
Nehring said in order to get a pig to walk in a certain direction, the herder must be perfectly placed. He said standing behind a shoulder of a pig will make it walk out and toward the opposite direction of where the herder is standing, while getting right behind it will make it walk straight.
When Rosenthal is not herding pigs he could be cleaning out the pens. While power washing the pens makes them clean, Rosenthal said it comes at the expense of making him dirty.
"Stuff starts flying all over the place and there is a good chance it is going to land on you," Rosenthal said.
Jeff Engelhardt can be reached at 536-3311 ext.268 or jengel@siu.edu.
