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Sucessfully stepping out of her comfort zone

This is the third of four articles that describe the experiences of students working through their first summer in the FMT program, in the Agricultural Internship course for the 2019 season.

Historically, many FMT students choose to do their first summer stage (13 weeks duration) further afield – with six working in Alberta and Saskatchewan for the summer. Four of the six are young women. This article will describe some of their experiences working away from home and how they have personally developed over the past few months. The goal of the internship is to gain a better understanding of the management of an agribusiness and develop hard and soft skills through work experience.

Sara Bohemen – Vermeer’s Dairy Ltd

Sara Bohemen stands in front of the rotary milking parlour at Vermeer's Dairy in Camrose, AB, where she did her Agricultural Internship.
Image by Caroline Begg.
Originally from a tie-stall herd, Bernalea Holsteins, in Ormstown (QC), Sara Bohemen is working at Vermeer’s Dairy Ltd in Camrose (AB). The farm, the largest in Alberta, milks approximately 535 cows in a rotary parlour, and is owned by the Vermeer family. Bohemen’s responsibilities include calf care, cleaning, herd health, milking and a variety of tasks. “I’ve learnt a lot about new technologies and what it’s like managing a bigger herd, as well as different types and methods of management. I realized how important record keeping and organization is for a big enterprise and it gives me a lot of motivation for my own family farm,” she wrote in her mid-term internship report.

When asked if she had personally changed since starting the stage, Bohemen said: “I became a lot more confident than before. I’m not as afraid of asking questions or performing certain tasks like giving needles.”rotary milking parlour during FMT internship

“[The internship] has been extremely rewarding; I’ve already learnt so much and it made me step out of my comfort zone. I never would’ve thought I’d handle the distance so well … I definitely know I’ll remember this journey for the rest of my life” she added.

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