Most students at Mississippi State University have gotten milk from the cafeteria, eaten MSU ice cream or visited the “cheese store,” but very few know the milk used on campus comes from MSU’s research farm.
The Jersey Herd is a group of 10 to 15 students who work at 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. each day to care for the cattle at the MSU dairy farm. The farm is the primary source of milk for campus cafeterias, as well as the sorority and fraternity houses. This milk is the only source of milk for the production of MSU cheese and ice cream.
The Jersey Herd at the MSU dairy farm has the seventh highest milk production in the United States, according to the Dairy Herd Improvement Association’s analysis of the herd. 
Kenneth Graves, dairy herder for the MSU dairy farm, said the DHIA takes samples and records numbers monthly to calculate a herd’s productivity and the levels of protein and fat in the milk.
MSU’s Jersey Herd was the only university-owned herd to rank nationally in all three categories. The herd also boasts sixth place in protein and ninth for fat levels. 
The Jersey Herd produced an average of 22,000 pounds of milk per cow in the past year, Graves said.
Graves said he wants the MSU community to understand where its dairy products start.
“The student labor is what makes the dairy function. It makes my job easier, and the fact that we can create high quality milk is unbelievable,” Graves said.
Kaitlyn Hardin, junior animal and dairy sciences and biology major, and Sean Martin, junior animal and dairy sciences major are two of the students who work with the cattle. 
The students have the option of working during the 3 a.m. or 3 p.m. milking times. Hardin said she prefers the early morning shift.
“After you get used to going to bed early, it’s less interruptive of your life. What do you have to do from three to six in the morning?” Hardin said.
She said the schedule was hard at first but became easier over time.
“During the week, I try to go to bed at 8:30 p.m. When I first started working out here, I was exhausted because I could not get to sleep,” Hardin said.
The students say balancing work at the farm with school and social activities is one of the most difficult parts of the job.
“I’m taking 21 hours this semester. You have to become very good at time management,” Hardin said. “I really had to start planning my time, not just through the day but through the week. I’ve also become a very good coffee maker.”
She said her friends often do not understand why she goes home early on the weekends instead of spending time out like most college students.
“There’s a lot of shock when you tell people, ‘I’m leaving because I’m going to bed. I’ve got to be at work at 3 a.m.’,” Hardin said.
The student workers come from a variety of majors and still participate in other extra-curricular activities, Graves said.
“It’s an oddity. You would think that everyone who works out here comes from a farm. The majority of them don’t,” Graves said. “Probably 85 percent of the students I hire have never milked a cow or been around cows. Very few of them have hands-on dairy experience.”
Some of the students, however, are using the work as an opportunity to gain experience in the dairy and cattle field. Hardin, whose father served as dairy herder for the MSU dairy herd when she was younger, wants to pursue a career in the dairy industry.
“I don’t see myself running a farm or anything, but I do see myself involved in the dairy industry in some form or fashion,” Hardin said.
Martin, the only male milk hand currently employed at the farm, said the job made him more interested in large animals.
“I’m hoping to get into vet school. I want to concentrate on dairy cattle, but I really want to do a mixed practice when I’m older,” Martin said.
Graves said the students are very dedicated because they come to work every day to take care of the cows.
“I consider us a diamond in the rough,” Graves said. “All of that is generated by 12 to15 college kids and 150 cows. These college kids come to work seven days a week, 365 days a year at 3 a.m. to milk these cows. It shows they have a lot of character and discipline to do that.”

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