Photo by Andy McNeill, courtesy of UW-Platteville
Alicia Prilladams, the assistant farm director and swine enterprise manager at Pioneer Farm, is looking forward to welcoming students back to UW-Platteville this fall — especially the students looking for work.
Prilladams says the past year has been challenging as students were remote. The Pioneer Farm milks roughly 170-head of dairy cows. The farm also includes a 40-head beef herd and a 70-sow farrow to finish unit. It also operates 430 acres of which 330 are tillable. Pioneer Farm just finished fourth-crop hay and will be doing corn silage in the next week or two.
Pioneer Farm is gearing up to make sure they have feed resources for their livestock. It purchases feed for hogs, which Prilladams says is challenging due to high commodity prices. As a working farm, the university farm faces the same challenges other farmers face, including building a strong workforce.
Prilladams says the campus farm has struggled the past year and a half finding help during the pandemic. Right now, she is doing well in the beef and swine barn finding help, but encourages students looking for work to reach out to Pioneer Farm. She also connects students with local producers — dairies and hog farms — that need workers.
She looks forward to both farm and nonfarm kids working at Pioneer Farm. She says the experience is valuable and gives students in the ag field a leg up — especially if they’re getting outside of their comfort zone. Students can also look forward to getting a look at the latest innovations and improvements happening on the farm.
Know a UW-Platteville student looking for work? Contact Alicia Prilladams: https://www.uwplatt.edu/profile/prillada
Leave a Reply