08/23/23
FERRUM, VA, August 23, 2023 – Ferrum College’s Titmus Agricultural Center offers a unique learning experience for students. They learn how to properly take care of animals and manage the plants in the greenhouse.
Some courses require students to be assigned an animal to take care of throughout the semester. Students also can have the chance to earn certifications and learn artificial insemination, palpation, and how to check fetal animal development using ultrasound.
Currently, the Titmus livestock includes goats, sheep, and cows. It is also home to a hydroponic greenhouse. Among the plants grown at the farm, there are several varieties of lettuce that are harvested and served in the College cafe as a part of a “farm to table” initiative. The farm also has a traditional greenhouse is where the houseplants grown and sold several times a year.
Two Ferrum students worked on the farm this summer, Maggie Hodges and Bradley Sigmon, to keep the farm growing and continue their hands-on learning.
Farm Manager Sarah Isley shared how Maggie’s work helped get the greenhouse ready for the academic year and fall growing season. “Before we order our plugs and seeds, we up-pot our house plants. All of our houseplants come from student cuttings either from this greenhouse or the one in Garber Hall. Maggie worked on boston ferns, begonias and pothos to get those ready for the plant sale,” Isley explains.
The facility also features a CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program) creek where environmental science students observe what types of wildlife pass through a farm and how they impact the shared ecosystem. “It’s a creek that’s been allowed to completely grow up naturally. We can’t cut anything or disturb it. It’s a protected area,” Isley said.
Fences are essential to maintaining the CREP as well as keeping the animals separated into paddocks. Bradley Sigmon worked on general farm upkeep and maintenance including the fences this summer. “Fences grow up extremely fast. Maintenance makes it easier throughout the semester for students to check them,” Isley continued.
This semester, Isley hopes to bring more opportunities for students to the barn. “We have a grazing school coming out in October for crop science that will focus on pastures and maintenance of grazing pastures. Students will learn how to rotate graze, what to fertilize, and also what to spray with. Usually, it’s an all-day seminar held up here at the barn, and students will have the opportunity to get certified,” said Isley.
Isley emphasized that the farm is not just for Agriculture majors or students who have grown up on farms. “Some of our best students have never touched an animal before and others enjoy coming to the farm with the Ag Club just to relax and participate in something different outside of their major. The farm is for everyone at Ferrum.”
