A unique teaching tool at SUNY Cobleskill Ag & Tech also serves as a tribute to a beloved mother. Students spent months preserving and rebuilding a full cow skeleton, creating a hands-on learning experience for future classes.
The skeleton, affectionately known as Margaret’s Cow, a 14-year-old Miniature Hereford cow. Associate Professor of Animal Science, Kimberly Tarvis, helped bring the bovine into the school with the help of her family. The cow was raised on her family’s farm and was nearing the end of its life when it was brought to the Cobleskill Ag & Tech campus.
Tarvis said that students spent more than 250 hours preserving the cow, including the lungs, heart, eyes, kidneys, liver, spleen and reproductive tract, creating a hands-on model students can study up close.
