SDSU’s Pritchard to serve as bridge in feedlot specialist position

Robbi Pritchard, noted feedlot nutrition and management professor from South Dakota State University, has been contracted to help guide the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research Feedlot north of Scottsbluff until a replacement is hired for Matt Luebbe, who recently resigned as feedlot management and nutrition specialist.

The arrangement was announced by Jack Whittier, Research and Extension Director for the Panhandle Center. Whittier said Pritchard will provide scientific, research and management guidance to the research feedlot and assist in research and operational activities on a consulting basis. During this roughly one-year agreement period, Pritchard will communicate closely with Whittier and Clint Krehbiel, head of the UNL Department of Animal Science, as well as Panhandle feedlot personnel and appropriate faculty both in Lincoln and Scottsbluff, pertaining to the research and extension activities at the Panhandle Feedlot, according to Whittier. Whittier stressed that Pritchard’s agreement will in no way compromise the process of hiring the next specialist. The Panhandle Center has been given approval to move forward to fill this vacancy. However, there is still a process that must be followed before a formal recruitment begins. One step in that process is to get input from the local feedlot industry, which will be done in the coming weeks during an open meeting at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center. Details and a date for this open meeting are in process and will be widely advertised when available. Pritchard received a Ph.D. in Animal Science from Washington State University and performed post-doctorate work at Texas Tech University. Since 1984 he had worked at South Dakota State University, where his current title is distinguished professor in animal science. His work has placed particular emphasis on bunk/feed management, growth enhancement technologies, managing carcass traits and considerations of how best to optimize technology advances in ways that reward the complete system of beef production. He is a member of the American Society of Animal Science and the Plains Nutrition Council.

Hagelstrom earns AARE designation

Butch Hagelstrom, a Front Range auctioneer recently received his designation as an Accredited Auctioneer Real Estate from the National Auctioneers Association’s Education Institute. The AARE program provided Hagelstrom with the expert training necessary to effectively market residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial real estate. The program also provided Butch with training in evaluating property, preparing important financial documents, and preparing the property for auction. The AARE designation requires completion of 24 hours of training, the completion of a case study and recorded participation in 10 real estate auctions. Less than 360 individuals hold this distinction in the U.S. Hagelstrom is an auctioneer/broker associate with Hayden Outdoors, LLC and resides in Arvada, Colo. Hagelstrom specializes in the marketing of farm, ranch, and recreational properties; farm and construction equipment; and benefit auctions. In addition to the AARE, the NAA Education Institute offers professional designations for Certified Auctioneers Institute, Certified Estate Specialist, Graduate Personal Property Appraiser, Benefit Auctioneer Specialist and Auction Technology Specialist.

Wilson recipient of the 2017 Kurt Bucholz Conservation Award

The Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust announced that Jim Wilson is the recipient of the 2017 Kurt Bucholz Conservation Award. Wilson lives in Thermopolis, Wyo., where he ranches with his wife Teri. The Wilsons are known for their practical and progressive agricultural practices and management techniques. The couple has led the way in the conservation of the Greater Sage Grouse, elk, deer, and antelope in the Thermopolis area. Additionally, Wilson previously served as president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and played a key role in building a strong relationship between WSGLT and WSGA. Wilson spoke about receiving the award and about Bucholz’s legacy, “Kurt Bucholz was a great visionary in water and land conservation. It’s a great honor to be selected for this award. The other recipients are very notable and it’s an honor to be included among them.” Wilson has also been an active participant in watershed projects, most notably the Kirby Creek Water Shed Project. The project focused on the sustainability of approximately 128,500 acres of grasslands and valley in Hot Springs County according to the management plan that was submitted to the Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts. The Bucholz Conservation Award is given in memory of the late Kurt Bucholz DVM, rancher from Carbon County, and early supporter of the WSGLT. The Bucholz Award winner encompasses the values and stewardship goals that Kurt exemplified in his life. Bucholz had a unique understanding of water and land issues and worked to protect the historic water rights that are fundamental to the North Platte Valley. Wilson was presented with a bronze statue sculpted by the talented Wyoming artist, Jerry Palen at WSGLT’s 16th Annual Barbeque at the Elk Mountain Ranch outside of Elk Mountain, Wyo., on Aug. 26th.

Animal scientist joins NCTA faculty

CURTIS, Neb. — Beef cattle and animal nutrition are among specialties for a new faculty member at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture. Meredith (Bremer) Cable of rural Bertrand, Neb., joins NCTA as an assistant professor of animal science, and starts work with students as classes begin Aug. 21, said Doug Smith, chair of the NCTA Animal Science and Agricultural Education division. “We welcome Meredith Cable to our academic faculty where she will assist NCTA faculty this fall semester while transitioning into a full teaching load in January,” Smith said. Cable will concentrate on range management and other duties while training with Jo Bek who ends her 39-year teaching career at NCTA in December. Cable’s responsibilities will include teaching, sponsoring student clubs such as Collegiate Cattlemen, and assisting Smith with initiatives such as meats science, the NCTA beef cattle teaching herd and campus feedlot. “I enjoy research and livestock nutrition, and the opportunity to be in a teaching setting with the college’s farm laboratory here in Curtis and the grazing initiatives in off-site partnerships and resources,” Cable said. She received her bachelor’s degree in animal science and master’s in ruminant nutrition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is a native of St. Edward, Neb., where she was raised in a diversified operation of crop, cow-calf and feedlot enterprises. From 2015-2016, Cable served as the Beef Systems Extension Educator in the Nebraska Extension four-county area of Sheridan, Dawes, Box Butte and Sioux counties. For the past year, she has been the business manager for JKS Farms north of Kearney, Neb. She also is a volunteer advisor with the Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition, a non-profit statewide organization of education and technical assistance for operators of grazing lands. Cable and her husband, Cory, live south of Bertrand, where in her limited free time she enjoys horseback riding and playing the guitar. Information about NCTA programs is available at ncat.unl.edu or from Smith at 1-800-3CURTIS.

CCAC, CCGA nominate two for national farm stewardship honor

The Colorado Corn Administrative Committee and Colorado Corn Growers Association recently nominated a pair of northeast Colorado farmers for the National Corn Growers Association’s Good Steward Recognition, after those two farmers each earned the inaugural Colorado Corn Farm Steward awards this past year. Those two farmers are: Casey Kropp of Holyoke; Winner of the 2016 Colorado Corn Farm Steward of the Year-Innovator Award. Having not grown up on a farm, Kropp brought an outside perspective and eagerness to learn to the table when he married into his in-laws’ operation. Now farming his own 1,300 acres of center-pivot irrigated ground near Holyoke, he continues putting those qualities to use. In recent years, he was awarded two Environmental Quality Incentives Program grants to convert his entire operation to strip-tillage. He also utilizes a wide array of other tools — soil-moisture probes, variable-rate seeding, prescription and yield maps, cover crops and others — to help create a year-round environment for soil microbial life and also help decrease his water usage and other inputs.

Byron Weathers of Yuma; Winner of the 2016 Colorado Corn Farm Steward of the Year-Excellence in Conservation Award. While Weathers and his wife, LaLani, began farming in 1974, each of their families’ histories in Yuma County agriculture dates back long before that, and stewardship of the land has been integral with each generation. Early on in his own career, Byron utilized crop rotations that allowed him to use a no-till planting approach, building soil organic matter, and in many cases also improving yields. Byron, a former CCGA president, has always been an early adopter of technologies that have improved soil quality and reduced water usage, including strip-till equipment, dual-rate planters, GPS, zone-soil sampling, variable-rate seeding and fertilization, remote-sprinkler monitoring, micro-nutrient feeding and seed treatments, just to name a few. ❖