Dirty Wranglers, Clean Soul
Waking up New Mexico State University Before the First Bell.
Sept. 2023
Tyler Gardner, manager at NMSU’s on-campus farm, puts a halter on a Southdown sheep and kicks up some dust in preparation for an Animal Science class early Monday morning.
Student assistant, Sydney Turner, helps keep the others separated.
Erik Wiebe operates a 12,000+lb tractor that operates a hay and grain mixer. Once mixed, the hay and grain can be dumped through a chute into the trough.
After feeding the animals on campus, Wiebe is busy studying for his Engineering degree.
A Las Cruces native, Wiebe is thankful that his mom is around to mend the holes in his pants.
Robert Huerta shakes freshly dumped hay into the goat’s trough early each morning at NMSU’s on-campus farm. After this, he has classes at NMSU, where he studies General Agriculture.
A goat’s tail sticks through the wire and lets breakfast rain down.
A Las Cruces native with solid ties to Southwest American agriculture, his mother and stepfather both work for the NMDA. His mother is in the media department, so he didn’t mind the camera.
A herd of Southdown sheep is located in the city limits of Las Cruces on NMSU’s on-campus farm. Skeen Hall, the building that houses the university’s plant and environmental science-related departments, crowns one of the ewes who is too cool to look at the camera.
A Holstein cow on NMSU’s farm tolerates the flies more than most people. Holstein is a 2,000-year-old dairy breed that can be easily recognized for their stereotypical cow-print hide.
In 2021, NM’s dairy production ranked #9 in the nation.
Cows like this produce the cheese, milk, butter and the many other products consumed daily.
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