Lily Martin: A true cow girl

BY HAELEY CARPENTER / Digital Media Director

Lily Martin found her place at Tarleton State University. The graduate student from Fort Worth, Texas, came to Tarleton because she had heard about it from friends, family and teachers. 

“Whenever I toured, I actually did fall in love with it because it was a small campus,” Martin said. “I’m not a big campus girl.”

Her agriculture teacher, dad and older sister attended Tarleton, so Martin had a big push from her family to apply and she agreed because she also knew about the successful agricultural programs. 

Martin majored in animal science with a concentration in science during her undergrad.  When she had taken her first dairy production class in her second year, she really clicked with the reproduction and welfare aspect of the materials. She also did the dairy challenge, where she and other students traveled and judged other dairy farms.

“I came to Tarleton thinking I wanted to do sheep and goats but found out that wasn’t for me and then I took a dairy class and fell in love with dairy cows,” Martin said.

In between her undergraduate and graduate time, she worked at Fossil Rim with black rhinoceroses before she got an internship then a job at the Fort Worth Zoo working in the aviary department. While at the zoo, she got to work with her favorite animal, the penguin.

“I never thought I was gonna be working with birds or wanted to, but I actually fell in love with it so I’m still a big bird nerd,” Martin said.

Martin took a break after graduation, which was needed. But her goal is to be a professor and teacher, so she was looking forward to the idea of the graduate program. She had been thinking about going back to school but wasn’t sure about when would be the best time. Her professor answered that question for her.

“I knew it was time to come back whenever my professor called and was like ‘Hey, I have a spot open’ so I came back,” Martin said.

Even though Martin loved birds, she knew that dairy was where she wanted to be. Martin accepted the spot that Dr. Barbara Jones offered her and is currently majoring in animal science, focusing on dairy reproduction and wellbeing through her thesis project.

As a graduate assistant under the Southwest Regional Dairy Center at Tarleton, she started off by giving tours, helping with outreach programs and events, proctoring exams, grade assignments and assisted with other research projects. During tours, people get to learn about how the dairy center is run, fun facts about dairy cows, stick their arm in a cow that is cannulated and sometimes get to make butter.

When Jones left at the start of the fall 2023 semester, Martin stepped into a new title as interim co-director of the Southwest Regional Dairy Center. In this new position, she took on more responsibility including organizing tours, classroom use and other administrative duties.

Even though Martin is away from the department since she spends most of her time out at the dairy center, she enjoys her time out there.

“I love it over there,” Martin said. “It’s nice to be away and work and have my own office and be surrounded by cows. I go out and take 30-minute cow breaks when I have the time.”

On campus, she was a teaching assistant for the dairy production class. She was also a teaching assistant for anatomy and physiology in domestic animals for a while.

This past semester she and Anna (Lily) Ollinger co-taught dairy production.

“So, we had to collaborate on who was going to teach what,” Martin said. “It was an interesting experience, teaching with someone else for the first time.”

All master's program students must complete a thesis. Jones had started a project and thought Martin would be the perfect fit.

“She knew that I was into [reproduction] and welfare and so she actually had a project already drawn up using IceQube pedometers so it’s like little fitbits to put on cows and so her proposal was track lying time, how long they lie down, and then if there's any way it relates to reproduction,” Martin said.

This project could not have been a better match for Martin. She was excited to take it on, however it came with its challenges.

“Starting my project was a little bit rough because she left, so I had to start it on my own and figure everything out to get it started,” Martin said. “It wasn’t perfect by any means, but I defended it and passed.”

During this project, she also had to read other research papers, specifically in her topic and collaborate with professors that have experience or connections with dairy cows along with working with other people like producers. Building these relationships is not only important for the thesis but also for learning how to work with and deal with other people in a professional work environment.

Martin's masters degree took a lot of time. Her thesis hours, which is her time researching and working on her project, a general seminar class, and a post-secondary class, which is her time teaching a college level course which was dairy production this semester.

This semester was easier on her compared to other classes she had taken like growth and development and experimental design. Even though it was easier, it doesn't mean it was a piece of cake.

“It was also hard to make time for myself and actually have that ‘R and R’ time and just relax,” Martin said. “That was something that I should have done a lot more during my thesis.”

Outside of school, Martin likes to go to places like the Twisted J and country music concerts in Fort Worth.

She also enjoys and takes advantage of her time outdoors. Her boyfriend is into spartan races, so she goes out with him and tries to keep up.

After she graduates, Martin is going to take the time off to relax and take another break before going back to school for her PhD. 

“My goal is to be a professor in animal science,” Martin said. “I want to take time after I graduate to teach and get into the college academia level type stuff before I go back for my PhD.”

She is on the right track because she accepted a position at Tarleton teaching a couple of classes. She will also still help run the Southwest Regional Dairy Center and her goal is to bring back the dairy challenge.