After months of stressing about finding an internship and scanning though the ACJ group emails, my advisor sent out an email regarding the Hay & Forage Grower opportunity. Hay & Forage Grower is a monthly magazine owned by Hoard’s Dairyman and based out of their office in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Prior to this internship, I knew next to nothing about forages and had only one semester of ACJ classes under my belt when the H&F editor took a chance and hired me for the summer.
This internship was eye opening to say the least. Beginning mid-May, I spent the summer learning everything about magazine production, from interviewing and writing feature articles to capturing stock photos. Because we only really had two people on staff besides myself (an editor and advertising coordinator), I was able to learn a wide variety of skills. I learned a lot about copy editing and how to set up a good feature article through reading other’s work. My biggest area of growth was probably in photography. While I wouldn’t call myself a photographer, I was able to get a lot of practice, and the Dairyman’s art director really helped me understand the basics of lighting and exposure.
My main tasks were writing two Forage Flashes (shorter articles that would appear online and in the newsletter) a week, copyediting all material for both our magazine and the Dairyman, contributing stock photos, updating press releases on the magazine’s website, creating the weekly newsletter and daily social media posts on four platforms. In addition, I also contributed to the magazine by writing feature articles, compiling other author’s work and findings into articles and writing summery articles of the newest relevant research.
One of my favorite aspects of this internship was all of the travel. My first two weeks were partially spent traveling around Wisconsin with my editor to get pictures of a producer at different stages of his baling process. In my few short months I also traveled to western Illinois for the Illinois Forage Expo, flew to Louisville, Kentucky to interview a beef producer in southern Indiana and was sent to Yuma, Arizona to attended a press day for the newest in AGCO baling technology and machinery. My favorite, however, was a photo trip across Michigan with the editors of both magazines to collect stock photos and get stories for upcoming issues. We spent four days traveling across the state to visit over a dozen dairies and grass fed beef operations.
I would definitely recommend this internship to anyone interested in writing for an agricultural magazine. Knowledge of forages was not necessary to get the job although I did end up learning a lot about forages and dairies in the process. I worked closely with the staff of both magazines and everyone was very involved in helping me learn and further my professional development. Every year both Hay & Forage Grower and Hoard’s Dairyman have an internship opportunity and students can send their application materials to Mike Rankin or Abby Bauer.