Ohio State University has opened the $60 million Multispecies Animal Learning Complex on its Columbus campus.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that the 154,600-square-foot complex comprises an arena, staff and teaching spaces, four bio-secure barns and a dairy.
The project has been years in the making, said Cathann Kress, Ohio State's vice president for agricultural administration and College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Crews broke ground on the site two years ago, and college officials started touring other universities nearly a decade ago to see their agriculture facilities.
The Multispecies Animal Learning Complex, or MALC, will expand the agricultural opportunities available to students at the Columbus campus and beyond, said Graham Cochran, Ohio State's associate dean for the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
For students in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the complex provides an opportunity to study a wider variety of animals.
Depending on the season and projects taking place, the complex has a capacity of 2,200 animals. There is room for up to 90 dairy cows and 60 beef cattle; 20 ewes, lambs and goats; 264 swine; 25 horses; and 1,800 poultry birds.
