Students aren’t the only creatures looking forward to enjoying MSU’s green space, and the teaching and research center staff are preparing the sheep for warm-weather activity.

“We’re looking for some grass to grow so we can put some sheep out on pasture,” farm manager Alan Culham said.

The farm is home to about 400 sheep, which include ewes, or adult female sheep, and their newly born lambs.

Culham said farm workers are busy tending to sheep in stages from breeding to giving birth. Two ewes are scheduled to give birth at the Michigan State Fair in August, a pair of 2-month-old lambs were weaned from their mothers Wednesday and some other lambs have recently been born, he said.

MSU’s sheep farm is run by Culham and 10-12 students during the fall and spring.

Culham employs fewer students during the summer, but staff members work nearly 40 hours per week instead of the typical 8-10 hours during fall and spring semesters, Culham said.

With spring around the corner, students will spend less time shoveling snow and more time mowing the grass.

“We do whatever needs to be done, it’s a job that varies a lot,” Culham said.

Animal science freshman Kelli Rau started her own sheep farm last year and took the job at MSU’s farm to keep learning about the industry.

“It’s valuable just being around the lambs and being around when they’re born, and just knowing what to do when they get sick,” Rau said.

Ashley Knipp and other student employees also get experience training within their respective fields of study.

Knipp, an animal science and preveterinary medicine sophomore, has worked at the sheep farm for more than a year. Before coming to MSU, she had shown lambs for five years. When she came to campus, she wanted to gain a new type of experience.

At the sheep farm, Knipp has helped with lambing, or helping the ewes give birth, breeding, feeding the sheep and giving shots.

“I grew up on a farm,” Knipp said. “And I’m still learning new things every day being out on the (MSU sheep) farm.”