Introduction
In the spring of 2020, WDGA youth member Helayna Nerby approached WDGA with her idea for a virtual internship completed in conjunction with her final semester at Western Technical College. The result was “Goat Gab,” an educational YouTube channel created solely by Nerby which contains a series of videos for the novice goat owner. Thank you, Helayna for creating this important educational content!
Say hello to Helayna Nerby the creator of GoatGab, an educational video series in partnership with the Wisconsin Dairy Goat Association. Helayna is an Alumni of Western Technical College, of La Crosse WI, with an Associates degree in Agribusiness and Science Technology, and an emphasis in Animal Science. She also shows, breeds, and raises Nubian dairy goats on her family’s small hobby farm. Part of completing her program at WTC required an internship completion. As her final semester at WTC was approaching, so was the start of the COVID- 19 pandemic. When COVID- 19 hit the United States many futuristic plans and programs took a back seat in many lives. Helayna originally planned on participating in a farm- to- school internship, however it was canceled due to the world’s new circumstances. So, she had to get creative. When she had purchased my first dairy goats, roughly 8 years ago, she had a lot of questions and learning to do. So, while sitting at home in her now virtual classroom, she had the idea to base her internship on educating people within the dairy goat community. Helayna understands that there is a need within the dairy goat community to help facilitate new goat owners in their learning, answer any questions they may have, and to make connections between producers. It is the hope of Helayna that the GoatGab video series is an education experience for all those watching.