Emotional support at MSU Dairy Farm: Community finds comfort and connection with cows

By Lauren Lendzion

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    EAST LANSING, Michigan (WSYM) — The Michigan State University Dairy Farm hosted an emotional support event, featuring the farm’s cows, that allowed both families and students to de-stress after a very difficult year.

“When the tragic events on Feb.13 happened here on campus, we actually started this just for our departmental students, our animal science students, grad students and faculty to hang out and be together,” South Campus Animal Farms Director Faith Cullens-Nobis said.

The event not only provided much needed support to the entire MSU community and their families, but it also gained some unexpected traction.

“We had hundreds of people com,e and they just hung-out for hours eating food, hanging out with the animals, going back and forth, and it was just really warming. I had parents come up to me and hug me and say this is the first time they saw their child smile in a week,” Cullens-Nobis said.

Although this event served a purpose of comfort and care, the dairy farm did share a final message for the community regarding the importance of understanding the process of food production.

“It’s really important to connect people to where their food comes from that it comes from more than just the grocery store, that getting people onto a farm and seeing the animals that are producing their food and the care takers for the animals is really, really important,” Cullens-Nobis said.

The South Campus Animal Farms are always open to the public and will continue to welcome visitors throughout the entire summer.

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