Work is still going great here! We drew blood from three pigs today, which made the day fly goodbye! At some times during the day we have only fifteen minutes in between times for drawing blood. This may seem like a lot, but when you have to measure glucose, hematocrit, spin down the blood in a centrifuge and pipette plasma into appropriate tubes for analysis, fifteen minutes can seem like two!
I am beginning to learn more and more about the scientific community here and in the United States from the people here and I will have to admit that it is something that I could not rule out as a potential life long career. I do not know that I could give up vet school for a research job, but I might be able to combine the two and find a happy medium. After vet school is completed of course!
We are planning to travel to Copenhagen and Germany during out last week here! I cannot believe that we only have two more weeks of work left! Time has really gone fast as Alanna said. But, before we take off to another big city, I am checking out the world news...just so that I am aware.
I watched a video on MSNBC that was about Iraqis fleeing their country to seek asylum in Sweden. I found this very interesting because the video explained that the country of Sweden has always opened its door to refugees and tried to help them. Sweden offers a place to stay, a daily stipend, and language classes while families get their feet under them again. I think that is wonderful, but I am feeling a little bit unsure about where the future of the world as we know it is going.
The next article that I saw under the title for Iraqis fleeing to Sweden was an article about how hard it is to get into the United States. I found this very contradictory. I was always under the impression that the United States was the free land that welcomed people of all races. But, now all of the sudden we have closed our doors to those who we are inflicting problems on.
The story about Iraqi refugees featured a family who had to leave their country because their son and father were working for the United States military as construction workers. The family received threats of beheading because of their association with the United States.
Last Friday when we traveled to Skagen, we met a man who is studying at Foulum who is from Iran. The tour group was walking to the beautiful northern tip of Jutland on a gorgeous, white beach, when this man came over to me and introduced himself. Of course I introduced myself and asked him where he is from. He jovially replied, "Iran, the country that is giving ‘The Bush’ all of the problems." Immediately I felt terrible. I know the war is a very heated topic, but if you just step back and think about what it must be doing to all of the innocent people who had generations of happy, healthy, wonderful families that were established there, it is a terrible thing. I have always struggled with the concept of war, but now I have a face to place with the concept.
The man told me later in the day that he originally wished to complete his PhD in the Food Science Department at the University of Illinois, but he was not granted a Visa in order to do so because he was from Iran. Once again, I did not know what to say to this man. How do I explain to him the raw feelings in the U.S. about the Middle East? How do I tell him that some people in the U.S. fear the people who are trying to flee his country for their own safety, when my country is the one disrupting it?
Until this evening when I really started thinking about this issue, I always took the stand point that the United States is denying people Visas in order to protect us. I understand that there are very dangerous people who would like to cause more pain and suffering in the United States, but I wish that there was a better way to decide who is allowed to come to the U.S. and who is not!
I am glad that I came here if only so that I could make this realization. I am very proud of my country and my friends and family who have served and are still serving in the military, but I am beginning to think more as a neutral person who does not really belong to one country or another...and it is really making me think.
I guess this is just some "food for thought" but I know that I will not forget the man from Iran, or the family from Iraq.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Viborg Week 5 Alanna
I can't believe we have been here for a month already. It seems like the more work you have the faster the time flies. After a long week of analyzing and preparing data for our project I can finally sit down and look at it all. In all honesty, this week has been one of the most stressful weeks here. I had to pick up lab skills quickly and prepare myself for sorting out all the data I gathered.
One of the things that is very frustrating about this research is the program SAS. SAS is a statistical program that allows you to enter in data and create graphs and sets using a series of commands. This program uses similar programing styles to that of DOS. I wish I had learned this program before coming here because I realized it's an essential program in our project. When I told Jens I had never used SAS before he looked shocked. Gladly I knew what the program was and its purpose from working with graduate students at school. It takes years to master this program so you must realize how I felt just learning the basics. We have 14 different parameters that we tested on 72 different dairy cows. That amounts to alot of data and alot of time spent graphing results.
Jens and I recently attended a meeting with one of the statisticians here at Foulum to see if we could improve our data and back up our research. I must say, that was one of the hardest meetings to sit through. Although I understood the basics such as normal curves, t-testing, variables, and standard deviations, I could not grasp the concepts of more complex topics. I think this is normal seeing as that I haven't had too much statistics, but it is a bit discouraging. Although all these things have been tough to over come, everyone here has been really great at teaching me the basics.
The one thing that stands out this week for me is realizing science is never as straight forward as one might think. You have to consider all the variables before starting and ending your experiment. When we first started analyzing blood samples I thought it was pretty straight forward. Pipette the plasma, put it in ADVIA (the analyzer), graph it, and there you go...results. Oh no, that's not how it works. There is the "plasma matrix" (all the stuff in the plasma that can effect the sample), the different feeds, time, date, temperature and all sorts of other variables that make it difficult to just read a graph and analyze it. Standard curves have to be placed on all samples in order to ensure its accuracy. I am learning so much about biological statistics and it seems to be making sense. Let's hope I can keep up with the world of biochemistry and statistics as the weeks comes to an end.
One of the things that is very frustrating about this research is the program SAS. SAS is a statistical program that allows you to enter in data and create graphs and sets using a series of commands. This program uses similar programing styles to that of DOS. I wish I had learned this program before coming here because I realized it's an essential program in our project. When I told Jens I had never used SAS before he looked shocked. Gladly I knew what the program was and its purpose from working with graduate students at school. It takes years to master this program so you must realize how I felt just learning the basics. We have 14 different parameters that we tested on 72 different dairy cows. That amounts to alot of data and alot of time spent graphing results.
Jens and I recently attended a meeting with one of the statisticians here at Foulum to see if we could improve our data and back up our research. I must say, that was one of the hardest meetings to sit through. Although I understood the basics such as normal curves, t-testing, variables, and standard deviations, I could not grasp the concepts of more complex topics. I think this is normal seeing as that I haven't had too much statistics, but it is a bit discouraging. Although all these things have been tough to over come, everyone here has been really great at teaching me the basics.
The one thing that stands out this week for me is realizing science is never as straight forward as one might think. You have to consider all the variables before starting and ending your experiment. When we first started analyzing blood samples I thought it was pretty straight forward. Pipette the plasma, put it in ADVIA (the analyzer), graph it, and there you go...results. Oh no, that's not how it works. There is the "plasma matrix" (all the stuff in the plasma that can effect the sample), the different feeds, time, date, temperature and all sorts of other variables that make it difficult to just read a graph and analyze it. Standard curves have to be placed on all samples in order to ensure its accuracy. I am learning so much about biological statistics and it seems to be making sense. Let's hope I can keep up with the world of biochemistry and statistics as the weeks comes to an end.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Wageningen Day 30-36 Allison
So, we have been here over a month now, and I am a little sad to see it go by so fast. We just finished our observations of the apes today. We have really been having up and down weather, but luckily it has been fairly nice the last two days.
Our infant survived, and is back under the close watch of the zookeepers. We were very pleased with what we were seeing, up until today. The mother had been keeping the baby with her most of the time, which allowed the baby to get enough to eat and be able to sleep some. However, today a higher ranking female in the troop decided that she wanted the baby, and kept her for nearly the whole day. When we were finishing up, we were relieved to see the mom with the baby until the same female tried to take her back again. We are now worried that this may become a problem because the mother feels that she cannot take the baby back because she is lower in rank.
It was amazing to be able to watch the baby grow up for even just a short time because she developed so much. She has started trying to imitate the adults in eating and communicating, and she has been roaming around and exploring more on her own. We even saw her ride on a male's back today. They are so much like humans sometimes, and it we really got to know each personality. We have even been concerned lately with the health of a couple animals because they both had unusual injuries. I think that we have almost been a help to the keepers, notifying them when there is a problem. It seems that this zoo has a very "let them be" attitude though, and a lot of the care is just monitoring. I thought it odd that they did not know the pregnancy status of this particularly fat monkey, but they just explained to me that it would be stressful to the animals to be handled.
I think we could recognize the animals as well as the zookeepers can. I will miss them now that we have gotten to know them, and I will be curious about the fate of the infant for a long time.
We begin analyzing our data starting tomorrow and then we will go back into the labs again after the class is over. I enjoyed that we are able to see so many different things while we are here, and I think it will allow for a good perspective at the end in 199.
Other than that, we have been having fun chatting with our classmates, posing for our professors camera (they make a DVD at the end for the whole class), and relaxing with our neighbors. This is a quiet little town, but I feel like we have been having a good time with it.
Our infant survived, and is back under the close watch of the zookeepers. We were very pleased with what we were seeing, up until today. The mother had been keeping the baby with her most of the time, which allowed the baby to get enough to eat and be able to sleep some. However, today a higher ranking female in the troop decided that she wanted the baby, and kept her for nearly the whole day. When we were finishing up, we were relieved to see the mom with the baby until the same female tried to take her back again. We are now worried that this may become a problem because the mother feels that she cannot take the baby back because she is lower in rank.
It was amazing to be able to watch the baby grow up for even just a short time because she developed so much. She has started trying to imitate the adults in eating and communicating, and she has been roaming around and exploring more on her own. We even saw her ride on a male's back today. They are so much like humans sometimes, and it we really got to know each personality. We have even been concerned lately with the health of a couple animals because they both had unusual injuries. I think that we have almost been a help to the keepers, notifying them when there is a problem. It seems that this zoo has a very "let them be" attitude though, and a lot of the care is just monitoring. I thought it odd that they did not know the pregnancy status of this particularly fat monkey, but they just explained to me that it would be stressful to the animals to be handled.
I think we could recognize the animals as well as the zookeepers can. I will miss them now that we have gotten to know them, and I will be curious about the fate of the infant for a long time.
We begin analyzing our data starting tomorrow and then we will go back into the labs again after the class is over. I enjoyed that we are able to see so many different things while we are here, and I think it will allow for a good perspective at the end in 199.
Other than that, we have been having fun chatting with our classmates, posing for our professors camera (they make a DVD at the end for the whole class), and relaxing with our neighbors. This is a quiet little town, but I feel like we have been having a good time with it.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Jess-Viborg-Week 5
Today was an interesting day at work, but not because there was a lot to do. I had a good day to sit back and reflect on the last few weeks here and some of the conversations that I have been able to share with many different people.
Sometime last week I had a conversion with Peter about the work force here in Denmark. He informed me that the unemployment rate in Denmark is extremely high and that many people simply do not want to work. This same subject was brought to my attention again only a few days later when I spoke to a dairy farmer.
From what I understand, Polish people are willing to move to Denmark and seek employment doing jobs that the Danish people would rather not do. Polish people are supposed to be paid the same amount of money as the Danish people, but that is not always the case.
I find this very interesting because it seems to me that it almost mirrors what is happening in the United States. Many Hispanic people move to the United States and do jobs that Americans choose not to do. For example, jobs working with livestock are often filled by those who are not from the United States. The same is true in Denmark. The people who are uprooting their families and moving to Denmark or the United States are taking on jobs that have to do with agriculture.
So my question is, why do I hear from farmers, both in the U.S. and Denmark, that they have the greatest jobs in the world...but nobody wants to work for them? Is it the way society views farmers? Is it the way farm work is portrayed? Or are farmers just so cheap (or rather so poor) that they cannot offer salaries, vacation time, health insurance, and other benefits that maybe another employer can?
I want to know how people view farm work. I know that it is extremely hard work, you never have a week or even sometimes a day to take off. I know that the work is often dirty, very dangerous, and time consuming. But, I know that I have loved growing up on a farm. My parents love what they do and the farmers that I have spoken to here also love what they do.
I am wondering if the idea that farming is the greatest job in the world is simply because it is "in the eye of the beholder". If someone had asked me as a freshman or sophomore in high school if I loved living on a farm, I would have laughed at them and asked for them to tell me a specific task on the farm. I would then answer accordingly. There are really good days and really, really, bad days, but as a whole I think that farming is one of the greatest professions in the world. So, in that case, I get back to my original question as to why no one wants to work on a farm?
I think this is a question that could come back to haunt our country as well as other countries around the world, because if there are no farmers to make the world food, there will be no food in the world.
Sometime last week I had a conversion with Peter about the work force here in Denmark. He informed me that the unemployment rate in Denmark is extremely high and that many people simply do not want to work. This same subject was brought to my attention again only a few days later when I spoke to a dairy farmer.
From what I understand, Polish people are willing to move to Denmark and seek employment doing jobs that the Danish people would rather not do. Polish people are supposed to be paid the same amount of money as the Danish people, but that is not always the case.
I find this very interesting because it seems to me that it almost mirrors what is happening in the United States. Many Hispanic people move to the United States and do jobs that Americans choose not to do. For example, jobs working with livestock are often filled by those who are not from the United States. The same is true in Denmark. The people who are uprooting their families and moving to Denmark or the United States are taking on jobs that have to do with agriculture.
So my question is, why do I hear from farmers, both in the U.S. and Denmark, that they have the greatest jobs in the world...but nobody wants to work for them? Is it the way society views farmers? Is it the way farm work is portrayed? Or are farmers just so cheap (or rather so poor) that they cannot offer salaries, vacation time, health insurance, and other benefits that maybe another employer can?
I want to know how people view farm work. I know that it is extremely hard work, you never have a week or even sometimes a day to take off. I know that the work is often dirty, very dangerous, and time consuming. But, I know that I have loved growing up on a farm. My parents love what they do and the farmers that I have spoken to here also love what they do.
I am wondering if the idea that farming is the greatest job in the world is simply because it is "in the eye of the beholder". If someone had asked me as a freshman or sophomore in high school if I loved living on a farm, I would have laughed at them and asked for them to tell me a specific task on the farm. I would then answer accordingly. There are really good days and really, really, bad days, but as a whole I think that farming is one of the greatest professions in the world. So, in that case, I get back to my original question as to why no one wants to work on a farm?
I think this is a question that could come back to haunt our country as well as other countries around the world, because if there are no farmers to make the world food, there will be no food in the world.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Wageningen Week 5 Sam
Things here in Wageningen have been going very well. After finishing with the second week of the Animal Behaviour and Environment course, I have discovered a lot over the two week span. We presented the research material that we had been preparing over a week period of time in front of the class and then there was a short discussion immediately following. I really tried to speak slowly through my presentation, however it still was not slow enough, so that is something I will need to work harder on for the next time around with our final presentation. The critique mainly came from the professor and teacher of the course, concerning topics that we had been unable to find exact research on at that point. After a week of research, we learned that there was an infant Barbary macaque that the zoo requested we specifically observe. Therefore, we unfortunately discovered there was not much background research information available on the young concerning this exact species of monkey. Yet, in meetings the following day with our group (which consists of about 5 other pairs of students), our supervisor, the teacher and professor, we talked through any misunderstandings that arose the day before within our presentation. After only receiving positive feedback to this point, we finally received critique on this Wednesday, which is what we had been looking for, yet not to come the day before we began observing. We worked with the professor and teacher separately, only to discover they each had suggestions of different sampling methods, therefore we ultimately attempted to compromise between the two. We made everything work and it was one of the first days that we had to stay a bit longer than we usually have needed to, to make appropriate changes.
An advantage that we have noticed we have over the other students in the class, is that English is our first language, we think in English, we speak it, we write it. We have found that many students need much more time to write out the reports and presentations, as they have told us they sit there and talk about how to write it correctly in English. They speak much slower and use simple language, understandably so. We discovered exactly what they meant when we had to complete peer reviews of their background research introductions. The English in the paper I was reviewing was very poor and Allison and I barely knew where to begin, because we were unsure of how far we were supposed to critique. We were told to watch for sentence structure, not just content and becoming so brain washed and trained over the years caused this review to be much harder for us than intended.
However, our observations at the zoo have been great! We finally met the zoo keeper for our monkeys on Thursday morning before we began observing and she helped us to identify almost all 10 monkeys of the troop. We can finally pair names with key features and people probably think that we are crazy as they walk by and hear us speaking to the monkeys using their names. We are primarily interested in the infant who was born on May 16 and who she (we think it's a girl, as does the zoo) spends the most time with. So far we have found that there are 2 older males in the troop that spend a decent amount of time with her, her young mother spends the most and then there was quite a bit of drama in the troop Thursday when the youngest, very interested female of the troop stole the infant for over an hour. This was very nerve racking for us because she is very inexperienced, she has never had a young of her own and she was running around the habitat carrying our screaming subject by the neck. This went on for the longest time, zoo keepers kept coming by debating whether to get their manager, however there was not much to be done, as the zoo barely ever handles these monkeys. The head keeper came by later after the mom had her baby back finally and to our surprise we learned that this very female, named Kim, was the monkey who killed the infant that was born earlier this year, because she took it from the mother for too long. So now, you can only imagine how nervous we get any time Kim gets near our baby, as we feel the pressure is slightly resting on our shoulders for this infant to survive at least while it's under our watch. The funny part about it all however, is that from the start, Kim was our favorite monkey. She is the most energetic monkey in the troop because she is so young and she is definitely an instigator. Therefore, she's absolutely hilarious to watch, except when she goes after our baby. She is always near the mom and baby, or male + baby, trying to help groom or cuddle, which we thought was beyond adorable until she made her get-away when one of the males let the baby wander within a foot of him during their lunch. Friday's observation was much calmer, we were more familiar with the personality of each monkey and Kim fortunately did not get her little hands on the baby. We will observe at the zoo for 3 more days and then come back and analyze all of the data we have collected. Our sampling methods mainly focus on the specific behaviors of the infant, recording which adult she is with during each sample we take. We take proximity samples to see who is near her the most and then finally, a time budget scan of the entire troop throughout the day so we can ultimately give the zoo an idea of how they spend their time each day.
It has been a pleasure to observe at Ouwehand Zoo, the staff is great and I have really enjoyed watching these monkeys. I am excited for 3 more days with them and I have a feeling I will miss it as the end is approaching so quickly. Other than class work, we relxed in Wageningen for the weekend, gave our wallets a break and I enjoyed the town market on Saturday. However, we finally booked our trip to Berlin which I am quite excited for! I will likely post more pictures on photobucket of our darling baby and the other monkeys later on this evening. For now, I hope all is well with everyone back in the states and whoever is traveling anywhere and everywhere! We are jealous of the hot weather we keep hearing about, it has been overcast with bouts of rain for most of this week and we are missing 'summer weather.' However, I know I will regret saying that if it does get warm eventually with the lack of air conditioning! So far, so good!
An advantage that we have noticed we have over the other students in the class, is that English is our first language, we think in English, we speak it, we write it. We have found that many students need much more time to write out the reports and presentations, as they have told us they sit there and talk about how to write it correctly in English. They speak much slower and use simple language, understandably so. We discovered exactly what they meant when we had to complete peer reviews of their background research introductions. The English in the paper I was reviewing was very poor and Allison and I barely knew where to begin, because we were unsure of how far we were supposed to critique. We were told to watch for sentence structure, not just content and becoming so brain washed and trained over the years caused this review to be much harder for us than intended.
However, our observations at the zoo have been great! We finally met the zoo keeper for our monkeys on Thursday morning before we began observing and she helped us to identify almost all 10 monkeys of the troop. We can finally pair names with key features and people probably think that we are crazy as they walk by and hear us speaking to the monkeys using their names. We are primarily interested in the infant who was born on May 16 and who she (we think it's a girl, as does the zoo) spends the most time with. So far we have found that there are 2 older males in the troop that spend a decent amount of time with her, her young mother spends the most and then there was quite a bit of drama in the troop Thursday when the youngest, very interested female of the troop stole the infant for over an hour. This was very nerve racking for us because she is very inexperienced, she has never had a young of her own and she was running around the habitat carrying our screaming subject by the neck. This went on for the longest time, zoo keepers kept coming by debating whether to get their manager, however there was not much to be done, as the zoo barely ever handles these monkeys. The head keeper came by later after the mom had her baby back finally and to our surprise we learned that this very female, named Kim, was the monkey who killed the infant that was born earlier this year, because she took it from the mother for too long. So now, you can only imagine how nervous we get any time Kim gets near our baby, as we feel the pressure is slightly resting on our shoulders for this infant to survive at least while it's under our watch. The funny part about it all however, is that from the start, Kim was our favorite monkey. She is the most energetic monkey in the troop because she is so young and she is definitely an instigator. Therefore, she's absolutely hilarious to watch, except when she goes after our baby. She is always near the mom and baby, or male + baby, trying to help groom or cuddle, which we thought was beyond adorable until she made her get-away when one of the males let the baby wander within a foot of him during their lunch. Friday's observation was much calmer, we were more familiar with the personality of each monkey and Kim fortunately did not get her little hands on the baby. We will observe at the zoo for 3 more days and then come back and analyze all of the data we have collected. Our sampling methods mainly focus on the specific behaviors of the infant, recording which adult she is with during each sample we take. We take proximity samples to see who is near her the most and then finally, a time budget scan of the entire troop throughout the day so we can ultimately give the zoo an idea of how they spend their time each day.
It has been a pleasure to observe at Ouwehand Zoo, the staff is great and I have really enjoyed watching these monkeys. I am excited for 3 more days with them and I have a feeling I will miss it as the end is approaching so quickly. Other than class work, we relxed in Wageningen for the weekend, gave our wallets a break and I enjoyed the town market on Saturday. However, we finally booked our trip to Berlin which I am quite excited for! I will likely post more pictures on photobucket of our darling baby and the other monkeys later on this evening. For now, I hope all is well with everyone back in the states and whoever is traveling anywhere and everywhere! We are jealous of the hot weather we keep hearing about, it has been overcast with bouts of rain for most of this week and we are missing 'summer weather.' However, I know I will regret saying that if it does get warm eventually with the lack of air conditioning! So far, so good!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Jess-Viborg-Day 23
I was lucky enough to be able to take time off work at Foulum and travel to two working dairy farms in Northern Denmark today. One of the girls who is studying at Foulum and living at the Kollegium asked me to help her with a behavior study that she has to complete by July 7th.
We left the Kollegium early Wednesday morning and traveled to a very small dairy farm in Suldrup, Denmark. It is about one and a half hours away from Viborg. There I was introduced to Finn, the farmer who manages the 90 or so cattle that are there. The operation was small and Finn was not very talkative so I was not able to gather very much information from him or his operation.
After a four hour observation of one cow in a special social group that is designed to help cows re-enter the herd after calving, we packed up and took off to move farther north in Denmark.
We went to a farm in Tanum, Denmark. There the farmer was much more social and his operation was very efficient and up to date with modern dairy technologies. The farm was composed of over 200 dairy cattle of all ages. They milk about 185 cows each day and the rest are either babies they have chosen to keep back or dry cows.
Because the cow I was observing was very happy she did not need to interact with the other cows around her and therefore she was very easy to observe. Neils, the farmer and half co-owner of the farm with his father, saw that I was not very busy and he began to discuss differences between the U.S. dairy industry and the industry in Denmark.
A few years ago Neils traveled across the U.S. with a group of dairy farmers from Denmark. They visited multiple dairy farms and were given a very good idea of the range of farming practices in the U.S.
After my time speaking with Neils (it was actually over three hours of speaking and mostly listening to Neils) I found that I had learned a great deal about dairy farming in Denmark. However the great deal that I had learned mostly consisted of what the great similarities are between farmers in the U.S. and their concerns and the farmers here.
Growing up on a farm I was always given ample opportunity to speak to farmers, or rather just listen to farmers about their trials and tribulations. Speaking to Neils made me feel right at home again.
Neils told me about the frustration that is met with speaking to people in Denmark from larger villages and cities. He said that it is very discouraging to listen to their perception of what a farmer does and how he handles his animals. Similar to wha the farmers have told me at home Neils commented saying, "People from the village think we are old farmers out here, wearing bibs, walking our cows to the barn with a piece of hay in our teeth, and doing nothing for the rest of the day." I hate to say it but I have experienced this same perception from non-farm related people from the U.S.
Neils said that ignorance and perceptions such as the one described above are the reasons why it is so hard to be a farmer in Denmark. He said you either have to keep up with the new legislation, even if it means borrowing more money from the bank to adjust your operation to follow legislation, or go out of business completely. He said one of the most disturbing instances in which he has seen consumers react to farmers was when a local news station aired a report that said that dairy farmers, particularly those who raise Jerseys, are shooting their bull calves just as soon as they hit the ground. Neils explained that while this is a common practice it is a necessary one in order to stay in business. He said Jersey producers must do this because it costs too much to raise a Jersey bull calf, or even steer, and lose money on it when you send it to the meat market. So everyone, including the calf, is better off if the animals are euthanized when they are born. He said he knows that it is a very hard issue to people to understand, and even the farmers do not like the practice, but with the way that the market is designed right now, there is no better way to be able to stay in business.
I found this to be very true to the way that consumers and producers in the U.S. view farming practices. For example, here is a joke that I have heard told so many times at farm auctions. "Why do farmers have 4X4 written on the side of their trucks?...so that they remember to work for days in the spring and four days in the fall!" Yes, yes it is a cute joke, but sadly that is how most of the people from non-agriculture backgrounds view the people who put food on their plates every single day.
I think that there has to be more education and awareness between farmers and consumers in both Denmark and the U.S. and I think that it will have to be up to the farmers once again to make this communication possible. I know that Farm Bureau and other agriculture organizations often try to organize educational farm tours, but I do not think that is enough to make people really understand what it means to be a farmer. That is in issue that I predict I will continue to struggle with for the rest of my life.
We left the Kollegium early Wednesday morning and traveled to a very small dairy farm in Suldrup, Denmark. It is about one and a half hours away from Viborg. There I was introduced to Finn, the farmer who manages the 90 or so cattle that are there. The operation was small and Finn was not very talkative so I was not able to gather very much information from him or his operation.
After a four hour observation of one cow in a special social group that is designed to help cows re-enter the herd after calving, we packed up and took off to move farther north in Denmark.
We went to a farm in Tanum, Denmark. There the farmer was much more social and his operation was very efficient and up to date with modern dairy technologies. The farm was composed of over 200 dairy cattle of all ages. They milk about 185 cows each day and the rest are either babies they have chosen to keep back or dry cows.
Because the cow I was observing was very happy she did not need to interact with the other cows around her and therefore she was very easy to observe. Neils, the farmer and half co-owner of the farm with his father, saw that I was not very busy and he began to discuss differences between the U.S. dairy industry and the industry in Denmark.
A few years ago Neils traveled across the U.S. with a group of dairy farmers from Denmark. They visited multiple dairy farms and were given a very good idea of the range of farming practices in the U.S.
After my time speaking with Neils (it was actually over three hours of speaking and mostly listening to Neils) I found that I had learned a great deal about dairy farming in Denmark. However the great deal that I had learned mostly consisted of what the great similarities are between farmers in the U.S. and their concerns and the farmers here.
Growing up on a farm I was always given ample opportunity to speak to farmers, or rather just listen to farmers about their trials and tribulations. Speaking to Neils made me feel right at home again.
Neils told me about the frustration that is met with speaking to people in Denmark from larger villages and cities. He said that it is very discouraging to listen to their perception of what a farmer does and how he handles his animals. Similar to wha the farmers have told me at home Neils commented saying, "People from the village think we are old farmers out here, wearing bibs, walking our cows to the barn with a piece of hay in our teeth, and doing nothing for the rest of the day." I hate to say it but I have experienced this same perception from non-farm related people from the U.S.
Neils said that ignorance and perceptions such as the one described above are the reasons why it is so hard to be a farmer in Denmark. He said you either have to keep up with the new legislation, even if it means borrowing more money from the bank to adjust your operation to follow legislation, or go out of business completely. He said one of the most disturbing instances in which he has seen consumers react to farmers was when a local news station aired a report that said that dairy farmers, particularly those who raise Jerseys, are shooting their bull calves just as soon as they hit the ground. Neils explained that while this is a common practice it is a necessary one in order to stay in business. He said Jersey producers must do this because it costs too much to raise a Jersey bull calf, or even steer, and lose money on it when you send it to the meat market. So everyone, including the calf, is better off if the animals are euthanized when they are born. He said he knows that it is a very hard issue to people to understand, and even the farmers do not like the practice, but with the way that the market is designed right now, there is no better way to be able to stay in business.
I found this to be very true to the way that consumers and producers in the U.S. view farming practices. For example, here is a joke that I have heard told so many times at farm auctions. "Why do farmers have 4X4 written on the side of their trucks?...so that they remember to work for days in the spring and four days in the fall!" Yes, yes it is a cute joke, but sadly that is how most of the people from non-agriculture backgrounds view the people who put food on their plates every single day.
I think that there has to be more education and awareness between farmers and consumers in both Denmark and the U.S. and I think that it will have to be up to the farmers once again to make this communication possible. I know that Farm Bureau and other agriculture organizations often try to organize educational farm tours, but I do not think that is enough to make people really understand what it means to be a farmer. That is in issue that I predict I will continue to struggle with for the rest of my life.
Jess-Viborg-Day 19
Three problems that I have had since coming to Viborg have been transportation, obtaining money, and communicating with people at home.
When we arrived in Viborg, we were under the impression that we would be traveling to Foulum each day by bicycle. We knew it was a long trip to get there, however we were not aware of the lack of roadside bicycle paths and how the people drive in Denmark. We ventured out the on the first Sunday we were here to see for ourselves how the bike to Foulum would be each day.
Shortly after beginning our trip we learned that the bike paths simply dwindle into shoulders along the road. You simply have to balance yourself down hills, across bridges and up hills again in such a manner that you do no cross the white line on the side of the road. Drivers of vehicles here do assume all responsibility for cyclists if they happen to hit one, but they do not drive as though they will be held responsible to the harm done to a person on a bicycle. I was lucky enough to experience the rush of a car traveling toward me, in the opposite lane, passing a large semi truck and coming so close to may hand on my handle bar that I could feel the wind and the whooosh of the car's rear view mirror!!
After that trip we decided to remedy this problem by spending money on a bus pass. Our parents were happy to hear that we had decided to be lazy Americans and travel by bus each money if only for their sound of mind. Each bus pass that is good for ten trips is 140 Dkk. There is a monthly pass, which I would suggest for people next year to buys as soon as they get here. With the month pass you can travel as much as you want on the bus in that period of time and it is only about 400 Dkk. We decided not to get this pass because by the time we learned of it, it was already going to be less than a month before we left.
We also were lucky enough to be given rides to and from work on occasion by the nice students who live at the Kollegium with us. This helps reduce some of the weekly travel costs. But, students in the future should not rely on this as a cheap source of travel because the students who live here are graduate students. So, a lot of them do not travel to Foulum at 8am every morning and back to Viborg at 4pm every night.
The second difficulty I experience since being here has been obtaining money. When I traveled over here, I had a large sum of cash (which I would not say to do in the future as it is very nerve wrecking to carry that much cash across the globe) and I had a credit card that I thought could be used as a credit card or atm. However, most of the shops in Viborg (basically all of the shops in Viborg) do no accept credit cards from outside of the country. There is a girl here just from Germany and she cannot even use her credit card that is only from one country away!
I knew that if I used my credit card to purchase anything here there would be a three percent additional fee added on to whatever I charged, but I did not know that to take money out of an atm machine using the card, there is the addition three percent interest, then a fee of about $10 to just use the card that one time, and then there is a 24% interest fee tacked on to the end of the monthly bill of whatever you charged while you were in Europe.
This missunderstanding was partially my fault and partially my credit card companies fault because when I contacted them before I left to let them know that I will be in Europe for a certain period of time (just like Dean Bohn suggested) they only spoke of a 3% interest fee for every transaction. So, being the naive traveler I did not think to ask about what it costs to remove money from an atm using the card.
I also checked into simply paying Inge (the woman who owns the Kollegium) my rent by transferring money from my parent's U.S. bank account to her bank account in Denmark. My mother checked with our bank and was told that it would only a $15 fee to send the money to Denmark. Inge said this would be fine to do, but that I would also be charged on the Denmark side at her bank. Inge promised me to check with her bank about this transaction and get back to me. While Inge did get back to me, she really did not provide me wiht any answers. She simply told me that I must pay in cash the remainder of my rent for June and July (I had already paid for May in cash) and that her bank only told her it would be very expensive to transfer money from the U.S. to her bank and they did not even give her a dollar amount!! This was a huge source of stress and frustration for me!
Luckily, Alanna's atm card does not have extraordinary charges to use it outside of the U.S. We are now planning on my parents sending Alanna's parents money to deposit in her bank account and then Alanna and I can withdraw the money we both need from her account from an atm here in Viborg.
The entire money situation here has absolutely been the bane of my existence in Denmark. I feel like I cannot enjoy my trip because I am constantly trying to figure out how much money I need to feed myself and get to work each week and still have enough left over to pay Inge and buy a few things to take home with. I suggest for future travelers that they open a bank account here and transfer money into it before even arriving, so that there is a surplus of money to spend and a lack of headache to spend it. And, that travelers truly understand the cost of spending just one week living here in Viborg. I am keeping all of my receipts from absolutely everything I have purchased here and I will have an exact dollar amount when I return home to offer to future students who would like to study in Denmark.
The last problem that I have run into in Denmark has been communicating with home. We were told prior to coming to the Kollegium that there is internet access. However, we were not informed that the internet access is not wireless, but rather you have to have an internet cable in order to use the internet.
This was stressful the first night we were here because we needed to email home to let our parents know that we have arrived safely. But, because we did not have internet cables here we could not do so. Luckily, one of the girls who lives here was nice enough to loan us a cable. The next day though we had to go into the shopping center in Viborg and send about $10 on a cable to use. We were told that we would be able to possibly use cables from Foulum, but there was a five day period during which we would not be traveling to Foulum and we wanted to be able to talk to home before then.
I also use skype to speak to my family at home. It has been a very reliable source of communication and I would recommend it to anyone who comes here in the future. The telephones here are not a good way of communicating. They rarely work and you cannot dial out to call home. They are basically useless. Nobody here ever uses them.
Beyond these three major difficulties, we have not had any problems in Viborg. I think the key for those who plan to travel and study here next year is that they have an atm with a good exchange rate (you should have this no matter what, even if you do not use one at home), have money to purchase either a monthly bus pass or multiple ten trip bus passes, and to have skype set up and ready to use on your computer when you arrive!
When we arrived in Viborg, we were under the impression that we would be traveling to Foulum each day by bicycle. We knew it was a long trip to get there, however we were not aware of the lack of roadside bicycle paths and how the people drive in Denmark. We ventured out the on the first Sunday we were here to see for ourselves how the bike to Foulum would be each day.
Shortly after beginning our trip we learned that the bike paths simply dwindle into shoulders along the road. You simply have to balance yourself down hills, across bridges and up hills again in such a manner that you do no cross the white line on the side of the road. Drivers of vehicles here do assume all responsibility for cyclists if they happen to hit one, but they do not drive as though they will be held responsible to the harm done to a person on a bicycle. I was lucky enough to experience the rush of a car traveling toward me, in the opposite lane, passing a large semi truck and coming so close to may hand on my handle bar that I could feel the wind and the whooosh of the car's rear view mirror!!
After that trip we decided to remedy this problem by spending money on a bus pass. Our parents were happy to hear that we had decided to be lazy Americans and travel by bus each money if only for their sound of mind. Each bus pass that is good for ten trips is 140 Dkk. There is a monthly pass, which I would suggest for people next year to buys as soon as they get here. With the month pass you can travel as much as you want on the bus in that period of time and it is only about 400 Dkk. We decided not to get this pass because by the time we learned of it, it was already going to be less than a month before we left.
We also were lucky enough to be given rides to and from work on occasion by the nice students who live at the Kollegium with us. This helps reduce some of the weekly travel costs. But, students in the future should not rely on this as a cheap source of travel because the students who live here are graduate students. So, a lot of them do not travel to Foulum at 8am every morning and back to Viborg at 4pm every night.
The second difficulty I experience since being here has been obtaining money. When I traveled over here, I had a large sum of cash (which I would not say to do in the future as it is very nerve wrecking to carry that much cash across the globe) and I had a credit card that I thought could be used as a credit card or atm. However, most of the shops in Viborg (basically all of the shops in Viborg) do no accept credit cards from outside of the country. There is a girl here just from Germany and she cannot even use her credit card that is only from one country away!
I knew that if I used my credit card to purchase anything here there would be a three percent additional fee added on to whatever I charged, but I did not know that to take money out of an atm machine using the card, there is the addition three percent interest, then a fee of about $10 to just use the card that one time, and then there is a 24% interest fee tacked on to the end of the monthly bill of whatever you charged while you were in Europe.
This missunderstanding was partially my fault and partially my credit card companies fault because when I contacted them before I left to let them know that I will be in Europe for a certain period of time (just like Dean Bohn suggested) they only spoke of a 3% interest fee for every transaction. So, being the naive traveler I did not think to ask about what it costs to remove money from an atm using the card.
I also checked into simply paying Inge (the woman who owns the Kollegium) my rent by transferring money from my parent's U.S. bank account to her bank account in Denmark. My mother checked with our bank and was told that it would only a $15 fee to send the money to Denmark. Inge said this would be fine to do, but that I would also be charged on the Denmark side at her bank. Inge promised me to check with her bank about this transaction and get back to me. While Inge did get back to me, she really did not provide me wiht any answers. She simply told me that I must pay in cash the remainder of my rent for June and July (I had already paid for May in cash) and that her bank only told her it would be very expensive to transfer money from the U.S. to her bank and they did not even give her a dollar amount!! This was a huge source of stress and frustration for me!
Luckily, Alanna's atm card does not have extraordinary charges to use it outside of the U.S. We are now planning on my parents sending Alanna's parents money to deposit in her bank account and then Alanna and I can withdraw the money we both need from her account from an atm here in Viborg.
The entire money situation here has absolutely been the bane of my existence in Denmark. I feel like I cannot enjoy my trip because I am constantly trying to figure out how much money I need to feed myself and get to work each week and still have enough left over to pay Inge and buy a few things to take home with. I suggest for future travelers that they open a bank account here and transfer money into it before even arriving, so that there is a surplus of money to spend and a lack of headache to spend it. And, that travelers truly understand the cost of spending just one week living here in Viborg. I am keeping all of my receipts from absolutely everything I have purchased here and I will have an exact dollar amount when I return home to offer to future students who would like to study in Denmark.
The last problem that I have run into in Denmark has been communicating with home. We were told prior to coming to the Kollegium that there is internet access. However, we were not informed that the internet access is not wireless, but rather you have to have an internet cable in order to use the internet.
This was stressful the first night we were here because we needed to email home to let our parents know that we have arrived safely. But, because we did not have internet cables here we could not do so. Luckily, one of the girls who lives here was nice enough to loan us a cable. The next day though we had to go into the shopping center in Viborg and send about $10 on a cable to use. We were told that we would be able to possibly use cables from Foulum, but there was a five day period during which we would not be traveling to Foulum and we wanted to be able to talk to home before then.
I also use skype to speak to my family at home. It has been a very reliable source of communication and I would recommend it to anyone who comes here in the future. The telephones here are not a good way of communicating. They rarely work and you cannot dial out to call home. They are basically useless. Nobody here ever uses them.
Beyond these three major difficulties, we have not had any problems in Viborg. I think the key for those who plan to travel and study here next year is that they have an atm with a good exchange rate (you should have this no matter what, even if you do not use one at home), have money to purchase either a monthly bus pass or multiple ten trip bus passes, and to have skype set up and ready to use on your computer when you arrive!
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