Outreach & Tours at Waterman Dairy
Access to the Waterman Dairy Center is not limited to students and faculty related to The Ohio State University. The managers and staff at the dairy provide tours to a wide range of audiences, from elementary school classes to youth groups to professional groups. All tours must be arranged ahead of time and tour availability is based on staff schedules and farm conditions. However, tours are a welcome and encouraged part of the farm’s mission. The farm’s location in the heart of Columbus makes it a unique and convenient place for a field trip.
Each tour is designed to fit the audience. In general, your guide will describe the layout of the facility, including the barns and nearby fields. He or she will explain the source of feed for the cattle and describe where most of it is grown and stored. You will also visit each unit of the center, following the growth of the four-hooved residents as they mature from calves raised in hutches to yearlings to heifers to cows on a regular milking schedule. The Jersey cows at the center are very curious and will want to meet you as you walk through their barn! Finally, you will get to see the milking parlor and learn how cows are milked in a modern dairy. The photo album below gives you an overview of some of the sites you will experience on a tour.
Tour Details:
- Tour costs: $4.00/adult and $1.00/child
- For safety, we limit the tours to children 4 years old or older
- We accept groups of 10-100 people
- The tour can be made ADA compliant when requested
- We offer additional educational opportunities, such as butter making for $2.00/participant
Please print and sign the Biosecurity Form (pdf) beforehand and bring it with you for the tour.
In preparation for your visit, you may want to peruse the following websites to learn a little bit about dairy farming.
1) http://www.ohiodairyfarmers.com/. Please note the links across the top, especially Kids and Teachers and Meet Ohio Dairy Families. There are some wonderful video clips and even a farm tour that the Holter family hosts.
2) http://www.foryourinfarmation.com. This is a wonderful curriculum that is filled with excellent resources.
Click here for a map to Waterman Dairy Center and parking information.
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If you are interested in a tour, please fill out the form below and someone will contact you.
If you have taken a tour of the Waterman Dairy Center, we would like to hear from you! Your comments will help us improve our tours.
End of an Era
If you have visited or driven by Waterman Dairy lately, you may have noticed something different. The three silos that marked the farm for many years are now gone. They have been replaced with silage bags on concrete pads. View the silos’ demolition in the videos below.