Palouse Research, Extension and Education Center

The U of I Beef Center helps to meet the teaching, research and Extension needs of the university as they relate to beef cattle. Classes give students hands-on experience in cattle breeding, feeding and nutrition, handling, vaccinations, branding, calving, cattle marketing and other areas.

The Charolais herd is used in animal evaluation classes, judging clinics and FFA and 4-H livestock contests and is showcased by the university’s Block and Bridle club at fairs and shows around the region. The center’s bulls and heifers are marketed to ranches throughout the Northwest.

The center consists of roughly 200 acres, 120 acres of which are in pasture and other farm ground and divided into paddocks 10-30 acres in size. Pastures and fields are used for grazing the cow herd, for research and provide much of the hay utilized by the center during the winter months.

The center has a purebred Charolais herd, a feeding facility with space for 60-80 steers and assorted other facilities. The center’s signature barns have been a part of the Moscow skyline since 1919 and are still used for research projects and to house the cow herd during the calving season in February and March.

Facilities include:

• Monson barn has space for 60 head and is fitted with Calan® gates allowing for the measurement of individual animal intakes.
• Historical barns provide housing for research animals with pens that allow for multiple configurations of group size.
• Ten drylot pens, each with a shelter and bunk space for roughly 20 animals held communally. An additional three pens allow for the same number of stock but lack feed bunks. A handling facility is located central to these pens.
• Two isolation barns with 16 pens allow for complete isolation and quarantine of animals under sensitive research. One, the E. coli research barn, has a capacity of about 36 head.
• Surgery facility of about 700 square feet suitable for small procedures on livestock animals.
• Residence for farm manager.
• Several other small pens and shelters.

The U of I Beef Center is located on Sixth Street, at the western end of the University of Idaho campus in Moscow.

For more information contact Elisha Johnson at elishaj@uidaho.edu.   

The U of I Dairy Center helps to meet the teaching, research and Extension needs of the university as they relate to dairy cattle. Classes give students hands-on experience in cattle breeding, feeding and nutrition, handling, vaccinations, calving, milk marketing and other areas.

Research at the center focuses on lactation physiology, reproduction and nutrition and involves multiple faculty, staff and students. The almost-pure-Holstein herd is used in animal evaluation classes, judging clinics and FFA and 4-H livestock contests.

The dairy houses 100 milking cows and an equal number of young stock. Lactating cows are housed in locally produced compost-bedded free stalls. The herd is milked two times a day in a double six parabone-style parlor with a Westfalia Surge metatron milking system.

All young stock are retained and grown on site. Bull calves are raised for 45 days and sold to the USDA-ARS site on campus. Heifers become part of the milking herd.

Summertime at the dairy allows for abundant grass and forages. Dry cows and young stock are on pasture 24 hours a day from May through October. A K-line irrigation system extends the grazing season, minimizing the animals’ time on concrete.

Facilities include a heifer shed, maternity barn, calf barn and residence for the farm manager.

The U of I Dairy Center is located at 255 Farm Road in Moscow, behind the Palouse Empire Mall.

To request a tour of the dairy, please complete a request form:

• Public — non-university affiliated tour form (pdf)
• University affiliated tour form (pdf)

For more information contact Logan Harper, 208-885-1152 or lharper@uidaho.edu. 

The U of I Sheep Center provides sheep, facilities and support staff for conducting research, teaching and Extension programs to benefit the sheep industry in Idaho. As part of the undergraduate animal and veterinary science curriculum, students get hands-on experience with sheep handling, lambing, sheering, breeding, feeding, vaccinating and marketing. Washington State University veterinary students also train at the center.

The breeding ewe flock is made up of approximately 200 Suffolks, Targhees and Polypas. All breeding animals are genotyped at scrapie codons 171 and 136. In addition, the flock is tested regularly for ovine progressive pneumonia virus (OPP).  

The center consists of 126 acres including a lambing barn, intensive-care barn, nine paddocks and a residence for the farm manager.

The center is located at 950 Farm Road in Moscow. Contact Dino Vinci at 208-885-3516 or dvinci@uidaho.edu to schedule tours of the center and for more information.

Our Sheep

Wiford 602 (RRNN)

Tag color for offspring — Red 
Born a twin in 2016 
Registered Suffolk 
Sire — Slack 4423 
Dam — Wilford 296

Long bodied, moderately framed sheep. Produces effective females for 2021 that are good for strong maternal instinct and udders that are durable. Testicle circumference: 30cm. Rear legs can be posty when bred to ewes who are.

MacCauley 3991 — Mighty Joe (RRNN)

Tag color for offspring — Blue 
Born a single in 2018 
Registered Suffolk 
Sire — MacCauley 2551 
Dam — MacCauley 3335

Deep sided, structurally correct ram. Good Suffolk breed character. Throws offspring who are not wide over the top for 2021.

Slack 7382 —604 (RRNN)

Tag color for offspring — White 
Born a twin in 2017 
Registered Suffolk 
Sire — Slack 3270 
dam — Slack H7079

Heavy muscled for 2021 and is more wether-sire type than a typical tall range ram. Deep twist and level topped. His offspring are uniform and produce a meaty carcass. Some wool caps and wooly legs are evident on 20% of his offspring, when bred to Suffolk ewes.

MacCauley 4915 — Randall the Vandal (RRNN)

Tag color for offspring — Green 
Born a twin in 2020 
Registered Suffolk 
Sire — MacCauley 4107 
Dam — Auville 79382B

A structurally correct ram for our Suffolk flock. He is a quick grower and is level topped, wide hipped and good structured.  

35627 Polypay

Tag color for offspring — Black 
Born a twin in 2018 
Full Polypay based on USSES records 
Sire — USSES 
Dam — USSES

A Polypay with larger framed offspring for our Polypay flock. His female offspring have good udder morphology. He is not the widest hipped or based sheep in the Polypay flock.

35629 Polypay

Tag color for offspring — Grey 
Born a twin in 2018 
Full Polypay based on USSES records 
Sire — USSES 
Dam — USSES

A Polypay with a greater than average carcass merit. Lambs out of 35629 are wide over the top. When bred to our current white faced flock he produced a lamb crop of 200%. His offspring are commonly wool capped and have wool on the legs that sheds as they mature. His daughters are calm in the jugs and have a low rate of dystocia. His female offspring tend to have desirable udder morphology. His 2021 lamb crop had 6% of lambs with entropion eyelids.

35628 Targhee

Tag color for offspring — Purple 
Born a twin in 2018 
Full Targhee based on USSES records 
Sire — USSES 
Dam — USSES

35628 produces docile lambs that have decent fleeces when bred to our white faced flock that is comprised of Polypay and Targhee ewes. He improves fleeces and only marginally decreases carcass traits. His ewes are very gregarious.

Laidlaw Panama Foundation

The Panama breed of sheep is one of only two recognized breeds of sheep developed in the United States by private sheep breeders. The Panama, founded by James Laidlaw of Muldoon, Idaho, was created to serve the needs for a rugged, hardy range sheep capable of grazing in high-altitude, mountainous terrain.

In 1988, in memory of James, Frederick M., and James A. “Sandy” Laidlaw, the Laidlaw family established the Laidlaw Panama Sheep Endowment at the University of Idaho. Although the university has no Panamas among its herds at this time, the endowment continues to support teaching and research focused on sheep.

A term paper submitted by Clark R. Torell while he was a student at the University of Idaho in 1952 describes the history of the Laidlaw family and the Panama sheep breed.

• Laidlaw Term Paper (pdf)  

Of Kambitsch Farm’s 220 acres, 180 acres are usable for field plot research and 15 acres are used as pasture for livestock. None of the land is irrigated. Seventy acres are dedicated to no-till/minimum-till production and studies. Short (one growing season or less) and long-term (several growing seasons) research is conducted at Kambitsch Farm.

Facilities include:

• Pesticide storage, mixing and loading facility
• 3,000-square-foot shop building
• 6,000-square-foot equipment storage building
• Field-scale tillage, seeding, spraying and harvesting equipment is available on site. Most plot-size equipment is transported as needed from Parker Farm.
• Automated weather station

Research and Extension topics include:

• Pest management
• Crop production
• Plant breeding and genetics
• Soil microbiology and ecology

Kambitsch Farm is located about 14 miles south of Moscow and 2.5 miles north of Genesee, adjacent to and west of Highway 95. The main entrance to the farm is midway between the intersection of Kluss Road and Highway 95 (north boundary) and Borgen Road and Highway 95 (south boundary).

Contact Roy Patten at 208-885-3276 or royp@uidaho.edu for tours and more information. 

Parker Farm is used for research, Extension and teaching activities. Subject areas include:

• Weed, insect and plant disease management
• Crop production, plant breeding and genetics
• Woody landscape plants
• Soil microbiology and ecology
• Organic farming

Short (one growing season or less) and long-term (several growing seasons) research is conducted at this facility. Parker Farm also provides equipment and personnel for research conducted by U of I faculty on private lands in northern Idaho and eastern Washington. The farm includes 172 acres, of which 110 are usable as field plots. A few acres can be irrigated.

Facilities include:

• 3,400-square-foot seedhouse
• 1,800-square-foot seedhouse annex
• 4,000-square-foot foundation seed building
• 4,000-square-foot shop and equipment storage area
• 1,000-square-foot pesticide storage, loading and cleaning facility
• Three 1,200-square-foot polyhouses and one 3,000-square-foot polyhouse
• Residence for the farm manager
• Field-size and plot-size tilling, seeding, spraying and harvesting equipment for small grain, legume, Brassicaceae and many other crops

Parker Farm is located about two miles east of Moscow, adjacent to and north of Highway 8. The main entrance is at the intersection of Highway 8 and Plant Science Road.

Parker Farm is also the site of the Center for Forest Nursery and Seedling Research, the Logger Sports Arena and buildings and storage areas used by various units of the College of Natural Resources. A NOAA weather station is also located here.

• Standard operating procedures (pdf)

Contact Roy Patten at 208-885-3276 or royp@uidaho.edu for tours and more information.

The Sixth Street Greenhouse covers 20,000 square feet, including 18 compartments comprising:

• 13,000 square feet of greenhouse space
• A dozen reach-in or walk-in growth chambers comprising a total of 500 square feet
• Large head house with space for classes, work and storage

Greenhouse compartments and growth chambers are programmed and operated using the fully automated Argus environmental control system. Some compartments are equipped with automated misting and irrigation benches. All are equipped with lighting such as fluorescent, incandescent, high-pressure sodium and metal halide.

The greenhouse has its own weather station that records temperatures, humidity, wind speed and direction and photosynthetically useful sunlight. An advanced recordkeeping system permits access to historical environmental data and a comprehensive alarm system ensures a reliable growth environment in all chambers.

To reserve space at the greenhouse, please submit a space request form. A greenhouse orientation given by a member of the greenhouse staff is also required.

The Sixth Street Greenhouse is located on the University of Idaho’s Moscow campus, at the corner of Sixth Street and Stadium Drive.

• Greenhouse policies and operations (pdf)
• Greenhouse space fees (pdf)
• Greenhouse space request (pdf)

Contact Thomas McDonough at 208-885-6379 or thomasm@uidaho.edu to schedule tours of the space. 

The feed mill delivers mixed rations to all three PREEC livestock facilities located on the U of I main campus. The mill staff works daily to calculate and mix rations that fit the needs of livestock ranging from lactating dairy cows to lambing ewes. This gives students a variety of opportunities to work with different species to meet their needs. Overall, the facility mixes and delivers 2,500 tons of feed annually, and feeds on average 500 head of livestock.

The feed mill also works with researchers across the state to mix accurate and consistent rations to benefit their research trials whether it is to study metabolism or reproduction.

The facility has a total of 700 acres which are divided into livestock pastures, hay fields and silage fields. On average the facility grows 130 acres of high-quality grass hay and 200 acres of alfalfa, barley and triticale for silage. All of these forages are used for research purposes and mixed throughout several different rations. Students are given the opportunity to learn about forage brokering as all other commodities used in the rations are brought in from across the Pacific Northwest.

Equipment used:

• Kirby 450 Aggressor Horizontal Mixer truck
• Jaylor 2575 Vertical Mixer truck
• Roto Grind Tub Grinder
• Caterpillar Telehandler

Facilities:

• Two hay storage barns 9,500 and 5,400 square feet
• Val Metal 4R12 Roller Mill
• Mixing room with a complete auger system for truck side loading
• Four commodity bays

The feed mill is located at 255 Farm Rd. in Moscow, behind the Palouse Empire Mall.

Contact Caleb Bischoff at cbischoff@uidaho.edu for more information.

The Hubert C. Manis Entomological Laboratory is situated on about two acres and contains:

• Head house (1,593 square feet) with two walk-in growth chambers, a room for growth chambers, including seven incubators with high-intensity light upgrade, a room for preparing soil and pots, a work area and a manager room housing the Argus control system to regulate light and temperature.
• Insect Management Laboratory (800 square feet) with one large room used to process field samples and four growth chambers.
• Host Plant Resistance Laboratory (570 square feet) used for assessing the effects of host plant resistance on the insect-host plant interaction. This laboratory houses 10 light racks for experimentation. A small laboratory, isolated from the main laboratory building, has three growth chambers, one light rack and a small work area.
• Four small greenhouses (each 399 square feet).
• Nearly .5 acres of field plots for growing weeds for the biological-control-of-weeds program.

The lab was named in honor of Hubert Manis, head of the U of I Department of Entomology from 1946–1968. The lab is located at 403 Farm Road in Moscow, at the intersection of A Street, Perimeter Drive and Harden Road.

Contact Steven Odubiyi at 208-301-4956 or stevenodubiyi@uidaho.edu for more information.