Poultry Science Club Hosts Booth at 2017 Farm Animal Days

The Prestage Department of Poultry Science (PDPS) and Poultry Science Club (PSC) hosted a booth and showing at the annual College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) Farm Animal Days on March 29-31, 2017. The booth offered the public an opportunity to hold chicks, observe laying hens, see different kinds of poultry feed, and learn about the poultry industry.

PDPS junior Lauren Lahnstein said it was a good thing for PSC to have a booth at Farm Animal Days because it allowed for the general public to become educated about the poultry industry.“As I was working the booth, I realized how little people knew about where their food came from. Everybody working at the booth was extremely knowledgeable about poultry so we were able to answer any questions people might have had,” Lahnstein said.

Lahnstein thought the best part about Farm Animal Days was seeing how excited the kids got when they held a chick or poult (young chicken). “Most of the kids said that they had never held a chick/poult before, so it was heartwarming to see them get so excited about the experience,” she said.

PSC is an active club here at NC State, participating in various events across campus such as Ag Awareness Week, Farm Animal Days, NC State Fair, and various career fairs. “I describe PSC as a club at NC State made up of mostly Poultry Science students, but all students are welcome. We are a club that promotes the positive side of the poultry industry. We strive to educate people about not only the poultry industry but the agriculture industry. We hope to bring awareness to this industry and hopefully get more people involved within the club and maybe bring more people into this major,” Lahnstein said.

Lahnstein described how she believed that poultry science was not a major most people thought about when applying to college. “It’s one of those majors that is either overlooked or not thought about. People do not realize the number of jobs available within the industry upon graduation,” she said.

“We live in a world where agriculture is overlooked, and the number of people entering an agriculture-related career is slowly declining, so by allowing Farm Animal Days, we help bring awareness to agriculture and how much our society is affected by it,” Lahnstein ended.