Students share experiences and perspectives from spending a year with cows, sheep and pigs
By NOAH HARRIS — features@theaggie.org
UC Davis is known for its deep-rooted connection to agriculture and its wide variety of animals. Davis boasts cows grazing next to student residence halls and wild turkeys walking around campus like they own the place. The livestock living on campus require constant care and upkeep, allowing UC Davis students the opportunity to live with them and care for them for free.
Students can apply for the ability to live in a barn residency, a program with nine different animal barns, including those with pigs, cows and sheep. Many of these students are in animal-related majors, which is preferred when applying — and everyone must be able to lift a bale of hay. Applicants also have to have a valid California driver’s license.
Guillermo Garibay, a third-year animal science major, discussed the work and commitment needed for barn residency.
“What’s really nice about the program is in exchange for 10 hours of work a week at the facility that you live at, you get free housing,” Garibay said. “This includes rent, utilities, electricity, water [and] anything like that, just as long as I meet my 10 hours a week.”
Garibay has had a positive experience in the program so far and shared a tip for potential student applicants.
“You learn so much from it and it only helps you further increase your animal handling experiences and exposes you to veterinary practices,” Garibay said. “If that’s something that you’re interested in, the best way is always reaching out by email.”
Many students spoke positively about the experience they have received, as well as the benefits of being able to work and interact with professionals in whichever field they are a part of during the program.
Jorge Tejeda, a third-year animal science major, lives with the sheep. Tejeda and his barn mates have to check on the sheep at 12 a.m., 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Currently, lambs are being born, and Tejeda talked through the process he undertakes to care for them.
“If there [are] any babies, we proceed with the protocols,” Tejeda said. “We set up their individual pen for the first couple of days. We lay down the straw, alfalfa grain for the mom. After that, we go ahead and we go to the other barn, where we have older lambs. Then, we go and take them out to pasture.”
Students sign a housing contract for one academic year and can stay up to two in the same barn before having the option to apply for a different barn area.
Mireya Padilla, a second-year agriculture and environmental education major, spoke about her passion for pigs that she works and lives with.
“Coming into Davis, when I joined fall quarter, my first thing was, one, how do I figure out where to apply for the Barn Residency, and two, where the heck is a swine unit at this place?” Padilla said. “I just searched it up on Google and then biked out there, made an appointment with the manager, had a little [meeting] with her, and I just told her that I want to work with pigs.”
For Padilla, children’s television was an integral part of her love for pigs.
“I found my passion [for] swine, actually, from an episode from Curious George that I watched, where he showed a pig and I was, like, that’s actually kind of cute,” Padilla said.
Though the students live at least a mile away from the main area of campus with little housing around them, they appreciate the isolation.
“I get my own room, I couldn’t ask for anything else,” Garibay said. “It’s a little far from campus, but I don’t mind. Just last week, I was in charge of feeding. I think on Friday at 5 p.m., I was out with the cows just enjoying the sunset. It’s nice being away from everything and all the urban community that you could say that Davis is.”
While Tejeda loves living in the sheep barn, there was initial hesitation.
“Every morning, like right next to the barn is probably a group of 30 turkeys,” Tejeda said. “So definitely the first two, three nights I couldn’t sleep because [for] one thing, you are in the middle of nowhere. You know, if somebody tries to do something to me, what am I going to do?”
For Padilla, living with just a few people in an isolated area has ended up being a wonderful part of her experience.
“I just can’t imagine it where I’m not close with my roommates or anything like that,” Padilla said. “We literally do everything together. They’re some of my closest friends.”
Tejeda had some words of advice for those looking for housing.
“If you guys want somewhere to live, the sheep barn is the way to go,” Tejeda said.
Spots are limited and competitive for this unique housing opportunity. While applications did close this past December, and the next crop of barn residents will experience what it’s like to live with and raise farm animals, there is always next year. Davis is known as the cow town, and perhaps nothing epitomizes that quite like the barn residency.
Written by: Noah Harris — features@theaggie.org
