Dan Severson’s guest lecture on the livestock industry was right up my alley.  Growing up showing market animals in 4-H, I knew a lot of the information he gave us, and had the opportunity to build upon my prior knowledge with some new facts he shared.  Severson shared data on beef, hogs, sheep, goats, and dairy, and of course touched on poultry. For each species, he talked about the different kinds of productions. For example, for beef there are cow/calf productions, feedlots, show/genetic breeders, and more.  He also explained that even the smallest productions can be considered farms, as long as they sell $1,000 of farm products a year. That was something I was previously unaware of and definitely surprised to learn. Having focused most of my years in 4-H on market sheep, I knew pretty much all of the facts he shared about them, as well as the goats.  I was also aware of the huge catastrophe that is the dairy industry, and it always makes me sad to hear about it, having known many dairy farmers personally that have been forced to sell their farms and animals. I was absolutely shocked to learn that there are only 28 dairy farms in Delaware. Despite it being a small state, it had surprisingly large numbers for most of the other industries with the exception of dairy.  All in all, Severson’s lecture on livestock was definitely right up my alley and I enjoyed listening to him come in and speak.