Cal Poly is home to a phenomenal agricultural department with the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, having the fifth largest undergraduate enrollment in agriculture and renewable resources programs in the nation. Luckily for animal lovers, this means that every spring baby cows, horses, cats and more are around campus waiting to melt your heart. If you are not a student in the agricultural department, you may not know how easily you can see these little guys tucked back in the agricultural fields. The baby sheep on display during Open House by the overflow parking off Via Carta are hard to miss. However, there is plenty to explore if you know where to look, so check out these three places you can find baby animals at Cal Poly.
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It isn’t called “Cow Poly” for nothing, the campus ranch is home to about 250 cows and calves. Spanning 4,000 acres, the ranch gives the cows plenty of space to roam. While this is good for the cows, it makes finding them hard. So, instead of searching the grassy hillsides, drop in to the Dairy Unit off Mt. Bishop Road. Here, Cal Poly students who work for the Dairy Program take care of the calves and who are so devoted that they wake up before dawn. The class is open to all majors if you want to become more involved in agriculture on campus. Pay the energetic calves a visit and maybe pick up a new fact or two on dairy farming along the way.
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Since Cal Poly’s mascot is Musty the Mustang, horses are a must on campus and can be found in the Equine Center. Located  a little walk past the end of Via Carta, the center has new, top-notch facilities after the generous donation from the Oppenheimer family. There is a barn specifically for watching and raising foals until they are old enough to be trained for horseback riding. Foals can be seen in their “nursery pastures” as the equine center’s webpage calls them, grazing along on their new legs. Make sure to greet our youngest neighbors this spring!
Photo via– Giphy
Want to be smitten with a kitten? Cal Poly’s Cat Shelter has been on campus since 1992 and has made it their mission to rescue, recover and release feral or abandoned cats, so they can find a loving home. The Cal Poly Cat Program is located on the way to the Dairy Unit, in the H1 parking lot off Mt. Bishop Road. Partnered with PetSmart, some of the kittens up for adoption are placed in stores for greater exposure and higher chances to find families. Spring may be your best chance to see kittens on campus before they are placed in a home. Make a beeline to these playful felines because they grow up so fast and can steal your heart just as quickly, so you might end up leaving with one.
Being away from home makes us crave a furry friend more than ever. Hopefully, the sight of these little ones will help brighten your day. Cal Poly is a great  lace to be if you can’t bear being away from four-legged companions. There is more than enough animal love to go around!