UF Horse Teaching Unit by: Anais

Today we visited the University of Florida Horse Teaching Unit at UF. Dr. TenBroeck talked to us about the facility, what it provides the students, and its history. Some of its history is that it was previously a Saddlebred horse facility. There was a large range of horse breeds from Quarter Horse to Thoroughbred to Arabians. Now they only use pure breed Quarter Horses and Appendix. The disciplines are mainly western, focusing on ranch riding.

 At the HTU they breed all their own horses which helps teach students about reproduction, AI and how to deliver and care for foals. Once the foals are born, a student gets assigned one horse and will be with it until the sale when the horses are 2 years old. They learn basic foal and mother care, how to start foals to be ready in the yearling classes, and more. Once they're yearlings the students work on desensitization, ground work, manners, and obstacles. Once the horses hit 2 years old they will start establishing principles through the saddle. In the fall they will be saddled for the first time, being worked 3 times a week. During this period all work is still being done in the round pen for safety and efficiency. When spring comes the horses will have had at least 4 months under saddle and will have their first few rides. During spring the students put the horse through courses under saddle preparing them for the soon to be sale!

As we toured the facility we also learned that students can live on the grounds in exchange for working there. This is an excellent opportunity to build your resume and gain skills needed to work in the industry. 

Honeybees by: Ashley

UF Honey Bee Research Lab 

On our final day of our tour, the first stop was at the Honey Bee Research Lab at UF. The building was beautiful and it was incredible to see what students learn about honey bees! The program was strong but in 2014 there was a fight to improve and expand the bee research center. With support from the school and a generous donation of $250,000 from one beekeeper they were able to significantly improve their facility. There are several classes on beekeeping offered at UF. Some of these include beekeeping and business in beekeeping.

Some things I learned in the unit were that there are between 9-12 species of honey bees in the world. They were brought to the US in the 1600’s and were not native here. The behavior of honey bees is extremely hard to study because of how observation is done. It has to be done so up close that it doesn’t allow bees to act as if they were alone, they often become on high alert as to protect their hives. 

Bees cannot see the color red, so the best way to observe them is with a red light. They only see pitch black which is what it’s like for them in their bee hive. The area is also very hot as to not make the bees use all of their energy to regulate their temperature. The room is kept at about 90-95 degrees. The biggest threat known to bees is Varroa Destructor. It is a mite that takes over the bee hives.

Part of the lab has a processing room with a variety of honey extractors that are used with different size apiaries.

There are over 300 honey bee hives at the UF research center. They have a specific research area  with other hives to be able to observe and research more about the bees. These hives require modification occasionally so often times students that have classes in the research center will have to learn other skills such as welding.

We were able to participate in a hive demonstration. All suited up (I'm the on in pink!) Mr. Chris showed us a  hive, pointing out what was happening in that hive. 

The production of honey depends on the bees environment. In the best conditions, bees can produce 200 pounds of honey in a few weeks! The queen of the hive is the most important aspect, and she lays eggs 10x smaller than a grain of rice. If the queen dies, a new queen or female bee will be selected at random. It’s so cool to know that UF offers a lot more than expected!