Nathan Lourenco Dias De Oliveira recently spent seven months interning on a swine farm in Fairmont, Minnesota. The Brazilian veterinary medicine student is participating in an agricultural exchange through the MAST International program in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.
“It was a really interesting experience,” Oliveira said. “I learned a lot about pigs and American pork production.”
Oliveira was responsible for three swine farm sites. Every day he would go to the barns and verify the pigs were getting the water and food they needed. He would also check the animals for disease and offer basic treatments.
This was not Oliveira’s first time working with swine. Back home in Brazil, he interned with a small farm, then moved on to a farm with about 2,000 sows. At the Federal University of Minas Gerais, he coordinates the Swine Study Group, where he leads and collaborates on projects focused on swine health and management.
Oliveira completed his internship in Fairmont this summer, and is now spending a semester at the University of Minnesota. At UMN, Oliveira is working in a veterinary histology lab, where he prepares tissue samples for examination by a pathologist.
He is also taking several courses, including animal nutrition and a career exploration class focused on agricultural education and marketing.
“Since I arrived here in the U.S., I’ve started to think more about my career,” Oliveira said. “I plan to apply for a master’s degree here at the U of M or another university here in the United States. Maybe in the future I’ll do a Ph.D., a postdoc, and become a professor.”
