Michigan State University Copes with Mass Shooting with Cow Cuddling
In the aftermath of a mass shooting earlier this year on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU), the university’s dairy has served as a place for comfort. This spring the MSU Dairy opened its doors, inviting students to de-stress by petting MSU cows and calves.
According to Jim Good, MSU dairy manager, they posted to social media inviting the community to come visit and it went viral.
“The first two outreach events hosted about 800 people between the two farms [horse and dairy],” he says. “The participants were grieving students, community members, University employees, and the families that needed a safe place to take their mind off of everything going on.”
Good shared that he witnessed the positive effects that petting cattle had during the events. The farm opened up stations that offered time with calves and cows.
“Somebody would stand there and just brush a cow for an hour and they said that they felt more at peace. It was just a nice connection,” he said. “Anything we can do to help students kind of de-stress and have a little bit more of a peaceful life on campus, that’s a role we can fill.”
The MSU dairy in East Lansing is home to more than 250 cows, with 25 students among the workforce. The dairy has plans to break ground next spring to build a state-of-the-art, 600-cow dairy that will be more conducive to offering tours and community events.
“Seeing the positive impact from these kinds of events makes me realize how important it is to build community interaction,” Good says. “The overall benefit to dairy and educating the public is huge. Our new dairy will allow us to do a better job of this.”
Good shares that he feels like the whole Lansing community needed comfort after the shooting, and he is happy that the MSU dairy could offer that.
“The entire community needed the cows for comfort,” he says. “Personally, for me, I know when I have a bad day and I’m with the cows, they have a positive effect on me. They are gentle giants, and it is very rewarding to share them with the community.”
The MSU dairy farm is located at 4075 N College Road in East Lansing and is open to the public seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
