{"id":1413,"date":"2019-01-23T21:30:31","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T21:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=1413"},"modified":"2019-01-23T21:30:31","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T21:30:31","slug":"beef-swine-center-donation-goes-beyond-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=1413","title":{"rendered":"Beef, Swine Center Donation Goes Beyond Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Paul Georgy<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By Jeff Wilson<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Venture inside SIU\u2019s beef and swine centers, and one will find students gaining hands-on experience and dedicated faculty and staff. Look a bit closer, though, and one will see a great need for improvements and expansion.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

That\u2019s exactly what University Farms Director Greg Osman is hoping a recent $50,000 donation will bring, even if it takes a little time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The gift, made by Paul Georgy \u201973, will bring a new lot of pigs and cattle to the farm. The short-term effect will be the immediate improvement of the quality of the livestock, but the long-term benefits are expected to go much further.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThis opens 100 other doors for teaching,\u201d Osman said. \u201cTo make the necessary improvements, this is the kind of thing we\u2019re going to need.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"SIU<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The pigs were delivered to University Farms in October. They are of a higher genetic quality than previous litters. Simply, this means a higher profit down the road when they are sold.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThese are show-quality pigs,\u201d Osman said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to help us improve the foundation of our program.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Bringing in show-quality pigs will also mean an improved experience for the Livestock Judging Team.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cBefore, our students were going to shows and looking at the high-quality pigs brought by other teams, and thinking \u2018What the heck?\u2019\u201d said Colten Collier, manager of the beef and swine centers. \u201cNow they\u2019ll know what it\u2019s like to be on the other side of that.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As for the cattle, that\u2019s more of a numbers game.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Georgy\u2019s donation will bring more cattle onto the farm, and the increase will bring in more money and help the beef center become more self-sustaining.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be able to better utilize our pastures and fill them with our own calves,\u201d Osman said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The profit from selling more and higher-quality animals will inject new money into the farms and allow for much-needed improvements.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Collier and Osman were quick to point out that they\u2019re not talking about major overhauls, but repairing and replacing some of the farms most basic needs, such as fences.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

FILLING THE NEED<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Georgy, a Trenton native, came to SIU as a transfer student. His dorm room for the first year at SIU was located at the beef center.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cEach farm had a dorm room,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were able to experience farm life and student life at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As a student, he was a member of SIU\u2019s Livestock Judging Team, which managed to win their first competition despite their members\u2019 lack of experience. Georgy believes the access to quality livestock is very important to building a winning team.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After earning his bachelor\u2019s degree in animal science, Georgy spent several years managing a purebred Simmental operation before starting a research\/brokerage firm, Allendale Inc., which helps producers become better marketers of their products. He spent 18 years serving the futures industry on the board of directors of the National Futures Association.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

His connection to SIU Farms spurred him to take action.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cHow can I impact the most people?\u201d Georgy said. \u201cIn this venture, we have the ability to impact thousands of people.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Georgy encourages others to get involved and make a difference, pointing out that gifts don\u2019t have to be only monetary in nature.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cAny type of donation can benefit the whole project,\u201d he said. \u201cDonations of manpower, time, effort, gifts-in-kind, these are all ways that we can help restore and elevate the SIU farms to premier status.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cSIU Farms are an attribute that many other universities don\u2019t have. It offers experiences you can\u2019t get elsewhere. I\u2019m excited about the opportunities that we can provide to our SIU students, parents, the community and the agricultural industry.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

For more information about how to give, visit www.foreversiu.org<\/strong> or www.siuf.org\/giving\/ways-to-give<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jeff Wilson Venture inside SIU\u2019s beef and swine centers, and one will find students gaining hands-on experience and dedicated faculty and staff. Look a bit closer, though, and one will see a great need for improvements and expansion. That\u2019s exactly what University Farms Director Greg Osman is hoping a recent $50,000 donation will bring, … Continue reading Beef, Swine Center Donation Goes Beyond Animals<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3,4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donor-stories","category-higher-education","category-illinois-higher-education","category-siu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1413"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1447,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413\/revisions\/1447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}