The Ag Ed Center is the place where students get to turn their classroom knowledge into real world experience. This is a unique experience since there is no other college, public or private, in the United States that gives undergraduate students to opportunity to care for animals every day.
The Ag Ed Center is open to visitors 8:00am – 6:00pm every day. At this time we do not have the personnel to give personalized tours, but you may enjoy the animals on your own. Please park your vehicle by the entrance gate and walk in. We ask that all dogs be kept on leashes and that you don’t feed anything to the animals. The GPS address is 8225 Dairy Rd, Berrien Springs, MI 49104.
Rare Dutch Belted cattle are the main breed of the cows we have here. They have a smaller dairy breed that does well on pasture. Their small size, calm temperament, and distinctive markings (“Oreo cookie cow”) make them idea for those just learning about cattle.
Each fall semester the second-year students have enough animal science experience to raise a purchased black Angus-Holstein bottle calf.
The miniature, pot-bellied pigs the Animal Science students care for were donated to us when they got too big for their original owner. They are not large by commercial hog standards but still weigh around 150 lbs. They are kept as pets, but they still think and act like pigs, which gives our students a great opportunity to learn how to care for and handle them. Unlike commercial pigs, they live a long life which include some infirmities of later life. This gives students experience handling geriatric animals.
The main goat breed we have is Golden Guernsey. They are a rare breed that almost went extinct during WWII. The Nazis occupied Guernsey Island and were slaughtering the livestock for food. One brave goat keeper hid her herd of 30 goats and they were able to survive the war.
They are a small breed with a sweet nature which is good for beginning goat caretakers. We are working with other Guernsey breeders to improve the breed and increase their popularity
Shetland sheep are the breed of sheep at the Ag Ed center.
They are a small breed originally from Shetland Island. They are very good mothers which makes them a good breed for our students to learn how to feed and handle.
They produce high-quality wool which we used to have custom blankets made for the 150th anniversary of Andrews University in 2024. They come in a wide variety of colors and patterns, and they often have twins and sometimes triplet lambs!
We have several breeds of rabbits at the Center. They are all calm and enjoy being brushed and fed dandelions by the students. Like all the animals at the Ag Ed Center, the rabbits are cared for by a team of students. Each semester the teams change to care for a different species. In this way all the Animal Science and Pre-vet students get experience caring for a wide variety to animals while they are here in college.
There is also a variety of chicken breeds which gives the students experience with different temperaments and behaviors. The hens are all cage-free and free-range. Their eggs are sold to help with expenses. The students also incubate eggs and hatch chicks for the next generation of chickens.