Day 3!

Today has been another fantastic day! This morning we went to Purina’s research farm and learned about what they do out there. I was surprised that they were a functioning farm that sold products. They raise and sell their market steers and meat rabbits, milk and eggs, but their main goal is research. They have a lot of studies going on to find more information and to better the feed they produce. I was very interested in their horse research. Having a treadmill that can go 60mph and incline is impressive and there aren’t many like it anywhere. I was surprised that they don’t ride any of their horses there; they only get worked on the treadmill. I didn’t realize how Purina’s partnership with professional horse trainers and competitors worked. When Purina comes out with a change in their feed, these professionals in different disciplines such as barrel racing, reining and cutting, jumping, etc. are the testers before it’s available for the customers.
Another interesting part of Purina was their deer. They didn’t have any at the farm yet but are getting some soon! They have crazy huge antlers! Purina makes a feed that has a protein that helps with antler growth but we were informed that genetics also plays a big role in antler size.

After Purina we went to University of Missouri to check out their campus and animal science program. We even saw a glow in the dark pig! The reason they have a glow in the dark pig is to show which pig is the genetically modified pig. From this they can study things like diabetes, the heart, and eye studies. I was expecting to see a pig glowing from across the way but it wasn’t like that. We turned out the lights and had a black light and glasses with a green filter. There was a glow pig and a regular pig right next to each other and once the lights were off you could only see the glow pig. It was most visible in the hooves and eyes and once the lights were on the only difference was that the glow pigs hooves were slightly more yellow. After checking out the animal science program we were treated to ice cream and I enjoyed a tiger stripe ice cream! Mizzou is known for their tiger stripe ice cream that they made up and I can definitely see why; I am a big fan. The ice cream parlor is ran by students and they make the ice cream right there. The milk for the ice cream even comes from their schools dairy!

A great day of tours and an amazing dinner at the Cracker Barrel! Tomorrow will be an early morning and another day full of awesome tours!