Impacts of 40 Years of the Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory on Beef Cattle and Range Systems

Jennifer Dush Author

11/02/2018 Added

16 Plays

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Jack Whittier talks about the Impacts of 40 Years of the Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory on Beef Cattle and Range Systems at a seminar, Oct. 18, 2018, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Animal Science.

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[00:00:02.270]Probably everybody knows our speaker,
[00:00:04.200]Jack Whittier.
[00:00:05.780]He's working and director
[00:00:08.208]at Panhandle Research and Extension Center for four years,
[00:00:12.960]plus or minus now.
[00:00:17.320]He, before that,
[00:00:18.210]was an extension research specialist at Colorado State.
[00:00:28.139]20 years or something.
[00:00:29.980]Just short of. 19, yeah.
[00:00:32.050]Close enough.
[00:00:33.630]For Mick Donell, that's important.
[00:00:35.460]For me 19 or 20 is the same--
[00:00:36.930](laughter)
[00:00:43.323]Involved in that range beef Cal symposium?
[00:00:47.110]Yeah.
[00:00:47.943]Were you at the start, or not?
[00:00:48.830]Not quite at the start.
[00:00:50.473]Okay.
[00:00:53.740]While I was a student, I accidentally
[00:00:54.910]went to one of the early ones as a student.
[00:00:56.890]Is that right?
[00:00:57.740]Yeah.
[00:00:58.573]Okay.
[00:01:01.580]I was trying to make you older than what you are.
[00:01:04.560]Before that, he spent some time at an extension
[00:01:07.490]at Missouri.
[00:01:08.780]Was Patterson there, when--
[00:01:10.380]Yeah.
[00:01:11.690]John Patterson was one of our students.
[00:01:17.800]The question is, what does he know
[00:01:20.360]about the Gudmundsen Ranch,
[00:01:21.860]which is the title, right?
[00:01:24.040]If he's been at Colorado State and Missouri.
[00:01:28.900]Well, it's because that's 40 years.
[00:01:34.320]That goes back to '78.
[00:01:36.878]A couple years after that,
[00:01:38.617]you came to work on a PhD.
[00:01:41.078]Maybe two.
[00:01:41.911]Maybe two,
[00:01:44.670]with Don Clanton and Gene Deutscher.
[00:01:52.328]I won't get into the story of my connection with plant,
[00:01:55.490]which is good.
[00:01:56.560]I didn't pay them to sound bad.
[00:02:03.205]And so this was during the startup,
[00:02:06.221]probably didn't do the first research at Gudmundsen,
[00:02:08.570]but one of the early projects
[00:02:12.770]and worked in this area,
[00:02:14.231]kind of between nutrition and physiology.
[00:02:18.090]And that's pretty much been your career, right?
[00:02:19.870]It's working with the cow,
[00:02:21.122]there's not a,
[00:02:23.202]I know that nutrition is a lot more important,
[00:02:25.133]but that's actually a real question.
[00:02:28.751]But obviously,
[00:02:29.642]that intersection's kind of been helping with the cow.
[00:02:33.338]That time at Gudmundsen,
[00:02:34.390]right when it was starting up,
[00:02:36.370]my recollection in the early years was to,
[00:02:39.295]because I kind of liked horses,
[00:02:40.865]was the Rat Horse Barn with a lot of,
[00:02:45.221]didn't do much for the research
[00:02:47.253]and didn't get a lot, did it?
[00:02:48.994]Bright years of horses at that time.
[00:02:52.130]Okay, Jack. We're glad to have you here
[00:02:53.700]to talk to us about the history, thanks.
[00:02:55.645]Thanks, Terry.
[00:02:57.370]It is good, it's an honor,
[00:02:59.274]and it's fun to come back.
[00:03:02.830]Been a little, kind of, not that it's starting to repeat,
[00:03:06.547]but a little more background.
[00:03:10.820]Now, as time goes, you get more reflective perhaps,
[00:03:16.150]but it's an honor to be part of this Nebraska machine,
[00:03:21.694]as I call it.
[00:03:23.070]It's really, in the sense of
[00:03:27.574]the impacts that happened,
[00:03:30.380]and happened in least in that
[00:03:32.750]primarily in the beef area.
[00:03:34.010]A big focus now, Jim, is you found knowledge
[00:03:37.073]that integrated Nebraska Integrated Beef Systems Initiative.
[00:03:46.140]I just, I want to pull that in here.
[00:03:50.740]Gotta get my clicker.
[00:03:54.910]I've kind of broken into two or three different parts.
[00:04:00.670]You know me, and I'd rather at lot of time.
[00:04:02.890]Terry accepted it kind of sets the stage
[00:04:05.050]for some of the other things.
[00:04:07.140]I'll tell you a little bit about the district
[00:04:08.540]and you know that too, but some of you may not.
[00:04:11.963]Thee and four are four-hour,
[00:04:14.440]focus a little more at the time.
[00:04:19.000]When the,
[00:04:21.074]let me go back there,
[00:04:23.630]I don't remember if it was Kelly Brunger
[00:04:25.862]made the discovery that 1978 was four years from 2018.
[00:04:32.975]He did that this week. You can do the math, now.
[00:04:35.413]That's a bit, it was interesting,
[00:04:38.530]we kind of started looking at what had changed
[00:04:42.800]and what had been developed,
[00:04:45.010]what impacts that happened in that 40 years.
[00:04:48.780]The one assumption, that were are the director,
[00:04:51.090]I think, when the gift came,
[00:04:54.335]and he was also the director
[00:04:55.380]when I was working at North Platte.
[00:04:58.422]Good to see you here.
[00:05:03.430]As Terry mentioned, I ran up the Scotts Bluff,
[00:05:06.067]the Extension Center, Research and Extension Center.
[00:05:09.870]I grew up in northern Utah,
[00:05:11.990]and that's only important because, kind of,
[00:05:15.450]some of this system's saying,
[00:05:18.543]that they try and thread through this a little bit.
[00:05:21.940]There's the homestead.
[00:05:22.870]Growing up, that's marked as 1967.
[00:05:27.064]Remember that old pickup.
[00:05:28.781]There's four Whittier boys,
[00:05:30.920]and Ron, you would know one of these.
[00:05:33.821]Went on to spend his career at Virginia Tech
[00:05:38.530]in the med school and I think I had a,
[00:05:41.250]over last interaction with you, Ron.
[00:05:44.229]The other one there,
[00:05:45.341]it was a vocational meat program at Utah State.
[00:05:50.420]That's the younger one,
[00:05:52.280]owns a sale barn in southern Utah,
[00:05:54.940]and then me.
[00:05:55.857]But we won the livestock touching contest
[00:06:00.110]at the Golden Spike National Livestock Show
[00:06:03.611]and that's the picture to verify it.
[00:06:05.930]It kind of got,
[00:06:07.303]then we started there.
[00:06:09.320]We showed Steve yesterday,
[00:06:10.720]this one here was purchased by
[00:06:12.633]what was then the Hotel Utah in Salt Lake City.
[00:06:16.760]And again, to show you how things change a little bit,
[00:06:19.120]they invited us down after they purchased a steer.
[00:06:22.830]To put him on display on the corner of Main Street
[00:06:25.839]down in Salt Lake City
[00:06:27.530]and for the afternoon you could come by
[00:06:29.760]and there was a sign there that said:
[00:06:32.237]"Come back to the Hotel Utah in two weeks.
[00:06:37.297]"Then you can have a steak from this steer."
[00:06:39.991](laughter)
[00:06:43.060]During that day in Salt Lake City or any other city,
[00:06:46.360]even Lincoln, Nebraska would have been kind of a stretch
[00:06:50.089]to have half of,
[00:06:53.195]okay, let's see, I'll just keep going here.
[00:06:57.260]Terry mentioned I had manhood
[00:06:58.613]because I grew up in Utah,
[00:07:00.160]that the land grant of Utah State University,
[00:07:03.402]that's where I went.
[00:07:04.397]Had a chance, and I'll tell you a little bit more
[00:07:06.270]about the connection here to the Huskers.
[00:07:09.450]Terry mentioned, I got my PhD here.
[00:07:14.772]Then I went to Missouri, then I had had a chance
[00:07:17.040]to go to Colorado State
[00:07:19.030]and then make the circle back to,
[00:07:22.133]back to the Huskers state.
[00:07:26.240]That's Erin, when you say who's Jack,
[00:07:28.292]that's really part of what I feel like I am today.
[00:07:32.350]This is the family, we got four grandkids.
[00:07:35.680]This one here was born in North Platte
[00:07:42.850]while I was in Gudmundsen and make a quick trip,
[00:07:45.950]missed it, but my wife had that son while we were,
[00:07:49.510]I think I hold the record for the quickest trip from--
[00:07:52.651](laughter)
[00:07:53.563]Gudmundsen to Lincoln, or to North Platte.
[00:07:58.620]The extension district center here,
[00:08:00.838]and you're familiar with how that's laid out in the state.
[00:08:04.628]We were associated with the administrative line
[00:08:08.040]of both the ARD and Nebraska Extension.
[00:08:12.820]16 counties in the extension district.
[00:08:17.370]You know there's three centers:
[00:08:18.880]Scotts Bluff, North Platte, and now the indirect,
[00:08:23.570]or Eastern Nebraska.
[00:08:27.330]Five extension districts, including the Panhandle,
[00:08:30.740]West Central, and then three subdistricts,
[00:08:33.020]I guess in a ways, what they're referred to now.
[00:08:38.610]We have 13 specialists,
[00:08:40.690]11 of which have joined the research appointments.
[00:08:44.160]Academically tied in back to an academic club on campus.
[00:08:51.100]21 research technologists or technicians,
[00:08:55.250]some operational staff.
[00:08:57.040]17 educators in the district,
[00:08:59.300]with some extensions and assistants.
[00:09:02.120]That's who is there, across the scope of our assignments.
[00:09:08.920]The blue, the one through nine,
[00:09:11.590]would be those who are primarily crops.
[00:09:14.750]The middle part there,
[00:09:15.810]cow calf feed lot and ranch nutrition.
[00:09:19.500]Working then with ranch and cattle.
[00:09:22.640]Sheryl Burkhart Kriesel community development.
[00:09:25.280]Steve Sibray is a groundwater geologist.
[00:09:28.660]From the faculty standpoint then,
[00:09:32.350]at the center,
[00:09:33.920]I really, I admire and always have
[00:09:36.450]that what Nebraska sees as the importance
[00:09:39.340]of having these research and extension specialists
[00:09:42.150]out where they're most needed and most close to.
[00:09:46.550]For instance, Scotts Bluff had sugar beets
[00:09:51.350]and dry apple beets, and you know, okay?
[00:09:55.600]Why have those type of research things located in Lincoln
[00:10:00.420]as compared to putting them on site out there.
[00:10:04.180]And to have enough specialists together
[00:10:08.320]that that academic collegiality occurs.
[00:10:12.420]Folsom, Missouri and at Colorado there were,
[00:10:16.840]kind of, one person shows that were located off-campus
[00:10:21.470]and it's, it's just not as healthy, I think, academically.
[00:10:27.570]When you're only one or two deep.
[00:10:29.700]Even though we're across a lot of disciplines,
[00:10:32.630]it does help to have that collegiality to share ideas
[00:10:36.420]and solve statistical problems or whatever might happen
[00:10:40.120]as that works along.
[00:10:46.055]And as I mentioned, almost all of them have the 50 50
[00:10:50.030]research and extension component
[00:10:52.080]that ties that applied aspect together closely,
[00:10:56.530]both in the education and the research side.
[00:11:02.400]We have several places--
[00:11:04.186](papers ripping)
[00:11:06.416]Acreage right around the center,
[00:11:07.960]gone 150 acres that we call Scotts Bluff Ag Lab.
[00:11:12.400]Mitchell Ag Lab, which is where the feedlot is.
[00:11:15.690]The additional acreage is up there, cropping wise.
[00:11:19.826]The pens at the feedlot also are designed on an
[00:11:27.480]expanded water intake,
[00:11:30.090]not a pen base system.
[00:11:31.120]Water intake, can and is measured.
[00:11:35.120]Kind of an important component
[00:11:37.190]in the water deficit area of the state.
[00:11:41.380]Also, the High Plains Ag Lab,
[00:11:44.990]north of Sidney,
[00:11:47.040]former munitions depot, much like Mark is,
[00:11:51.040]the same kind of property that came to the university.
[00:11:54.690]I guess the case that Mark became federal,
[00:11:57.769]but that would be where
[00:12:00.070]Carla Jenkins is doing some of her yearly work,
[00:12:02.960]is on this crest of wheat grass in a base now.
[00:12:08.090]Sioux Experimental Rage,
[00:12:09.730]Mitch Stevenson works primarily there and does the,
[00:12:16.124]what's going on there.
[00:12:17.303]And then Gudmundsen is actually in our district,
[00:12:21.580]but it's administrated out of North Platte.
[00:12:23.880]Historically, that's where the business center was
[00:12:25.807]and it just made sense to continue to do that.
[00:12:32.520]Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.
[00:12:36.043]The thing, a lot of you haven't been there,
[00:12:38.620]you're welcome anytime.
[00:12:40.670]Rebuilt in June of what year,
[00:12:43.390]I don't even know,
[00:12:44.310]probably 10 years ago that it was made more than that.
[00:12:48.490]It was updated and,
[00:12:50.220]I think it was asking 105 pens, 1500 heads of,
[00:12:56.290]and that allows multiple projects to go simultaneously.
[00:13:04.840]One of the additions that we've made
[00:13:06.660]just in the last year or two is the,
[00:13:09.580]is some housing.
[00:13:10.621]Temporary housing for students.
[00:13:14.100]When I got there, one of the things that the faculty said
[00:13:16.610]is it's really tough to attract students
[00:13:19.560]when they have to be to class here,
[00:13:22.430]and then some often pay double rent
[00:13:25.180]if they come out to Scotts Bluff.
[00:13:27.723]We've been able to construct that.
[00:13:30.250]They're available for overnight stays, too.
[00:13:32.900]If you're out that way and need a place,
[00:13:36.050]you can always stay in a bed.
[00:13:38.512]Hampton Inn, but these are also available.
[00:13:41.280]Our objective, along with the students
[00:13:44.050]would be to, while you're here, maybe,
[00:13:49.681]assisting scholars to grow.
[00:13:51.573]We've got one from India right now there,
[00:13:53.643]we're they're getting this complex
[00:13:55.413]and that would be one of the things to come
[00:13:57.390]and associate a little more closely.
[00:13:59.941]Talked about, Stu Hill
[00:14:03.230]Marcel from Brazil.
[00:14:04.730]And we began that open discussion.
[00:14:10.660]I was going through pictures
[00:14:12.190]and I'd thought I'd better throw this one in.
[00:14:14.663]This is your vice-chancellor
[00:14:17.540]and the branding out west.
[00:14:19.730]It's certainly not Gudmundsen, but at another ranch here,
[00:14:25.490]Olive Palms Ranch,
[00:14:26.850]and we're training him to implant
[00:14:29.374]and it was a tough deal to get a plant.
[00:14:33.000]It was a pathologist to understand implanting,
[00:14:34.984]how to do it.
[00:14:35.837]But then you also see the father,
[00:14:37.200]this is not associated in any way necessarily,
[00:14:39.960]but the dad helping the son hold the calf
[00:14:44.420]and kind of get started on the ranching career.
[00:14:51.160]Now, I want to just kind of set this stage.
[00:14:54.740]As I mentioned, I went to Utah State University.
[00:14:57.690]This a publication from back in '68,
[00:15:00.384]and Lorin Harris was kind of the father
[00:15:04.950]of ranch livestock nutrition in a lot of ways,
[00:15:07.220]at least in the western view.
[00:15:11.990]Lorin, I kindly remember him,
[00:15:15.610]but he had pretty well retired and was not around as much,
[00:15:22.330]but one of his students for PhD a guy named Don Clanton.
[00:15:28.110]And I had the opportunity to work with Don in my PhD,
[00:15:32.790]as I mentioned in North Platte.
[00:15:35.490]Just to get a little background about how this idea
[00:15:39.910]of ranch livestock nutrition, to get started.
[00:15:45.060]The Atomic Energy Commission did some nuclear testing
[00:15:48.780]in the Nevada test site back in the '40's and '50's.
[00:15:53.210]And this was a region that historically and currently
[00:15:57.594]had been a winter range for cattle and sheep.
[00:16:02.690]Not surprising, when they began that testing,
[00:16:07.100]there were some negative impacts on livestock.
[00:16:13.144]The thought was that it was nutritional.
[00:16:17.380]And it was. There were definitely some impacts,
[00:16:20.663]or some benefits, but,
[00:16:23.170]Atomic Energy Commission, they issued
[00:16:25.210]a request for proposals to study range nutrition.
[00:16:30.850]University of Nevada got the cattle grant
[00:16:33.950]and Utah State got the sheep grant.
[00:16:36.960]And so, they began to explore
[00:16:40.104]some of the nutritional aspects.
[00:16:42.980]Some of those early ways of supplementation.
[00:16:47.070]Early ways of fecal analysis and fecal effects.
[00:16:54.526]It advanced since then,
[00:16:56.447]but there was,
[00:16:57.548]and this would be then when Clanton was a student,
[00:17:01.220]that's when this work was going forward.
[00:17:04.050]There was another faculty there at the time,
[00:17:06.110]which excuse me, this was a grad student, John Butcher,
[00:17:09.970]not a name you probably know well.
[00:17:12.850]John Butcher was my advisor of undergraduate at Utah State.
[00:17:18.199]And I remember,
[00:17:19.032]as I started looking for PhD ideas and PhD programs,
[00:17:24.250]he called and actually talked for couple times previously,
[00:17:27.117]and he said "Jack, are you serious about this PhD stuff?"
[00:17:31.910]And I said that I was.
[00:17:33.285]And he said "Well, you need to know
[00:17:35.047]"if I recommend you to Don Clanton, you will get an offer.
[00:17:39.727]"And that I'm not gonna recommend you
[00:17:41.307]"unless you're serious about it."
[00:17:43.140]And in fact he did, then I did, and here I am.
[00:17:48.350]But it, I've told students that,
[00:17:50.790]all the way through my career,
[00:17:52.868]these references and trust in one another among academicians
[00:17:57.879]is pretty important and that's kind of why that...
[00:18:04.079]Anyway, Clanton and Lorin Harris
[00:18:07.710]did several things on ranch livestock and,
[00:18:11.420]we'll take time to go through those,
[00:18:12.850]but began to set the stage for some of the systems work.
[00:18:20.870]Just a few clips from that bulletin.
[00:18:24.000]Sheep equipped with range meters
[00:18:26.030]to measure distance traveled.
[00:18:28.230]The sheep also have a rumen cannula inserted into a fistula.
[00:18:33.340]These sheep were fed supplements through the rumen cannula,
[00:18:37.680]and as you can see we've come a long way.
[00:18:40.360]Mitch Stevenson now, along with several others,
[00:18:44.060]measured ranged distance and cattle distance.
[00:18:49.660]With GPS collars, we don't pull wheels behind them.
[00:18:53.247](laughter)
[00:18:55.850]Initially it was done.
[00:19:01.655]As I have said, to kind of lead up to this systems work,
[00:19:04.540]so Clanton had been involved in mapping
[00:19:06.943]and the ranch livestock component as a student.
[00:19:11.250]Came to Nebraska,
[00:19:13.740]and began to understand a little bit more about
[00:19:19.290]those systems-type things.
[00:19:23.457]I think Don started on campus here,
[00:19:25.467]and then moved out to the North Platte.
[00:19:29.011]And then in '78, Pete and Abbie Gudmundsen
[00:19:33.390]gifted the former Rafter C Ranch
[00:19:35.657]to the University of Nebraska Foundation.
[00:19:38.780]And so 40 years from '78 would be 2018.
[00:19:46.640]The title slide was actually was actually the title slide
[00:19:50.910]for an abstract of animal science meetings
[00:19:53.350]this summer in Vancouver.
[00:19:56.150]And as I mentioned,
[00:19:57.940]Kelly and I thought it would be beneficial
[00:20:00.960]to pull together some of that
[00:20:03.229]and tell that a story a little bit more,
[00:20:06.150]which we did with that particular abstract.
[00:20:09.203]It's a beautiful ranch,
[00:20:11.340]most of you probably have all been there.
[00:20:13.730]A very nice setting.
[00:20:15.430]Very integral to the Sandhills area itself.
[00:20:23.700]Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.
[00:20:27.070]Let me go back here.
[00:20:34.153]I was talking with Dr. Sumchen about this first one.
[00:20:38.980]Having spent time in Colorado State,
[00:20:41.170]when they were also gifted a ranch.
[00:20:44.090]Nice to give it to Colorado State
[00:20:46.060]and University of Wyoming simultaneously,
[00:20:48.360]which in and of itself is a challenge.
[00:20:52.400]But, not to throw stones,
[00:20:56.430]but the administrators couldn't stay out of the pudding,
[00:21:01.060]so to speak.
[00:21:02.420]And it didn't work.
[00:21:05.580]Partly because two universities involved.
[00:21:07.900]I think also because they didn't see
[00:21:10.904]the advantage that Nebraska administrators did,
[00:21:14.500]back several years previous.
[00:21:17.180]That research team didn't do the work
[00:21:19.940]of putting it together.
[00:21:22.030]Building the fences, the replications, the things
[00:21:25.904]that allowed GSL to put out the kind of research they had.
[00:21:33.000]And to the credit of this administration,
[00:21:36.630]I think that's an important part.
[00:21:38.080]They delegated it,
[00:21:39.610]and lot of them may not have been total hands-off,
[00:21:42.730]but it was to let this team of researchers take the lead.
[00:21:48.250]That committee was chaired by Don Clanton
[00:21:50.590]and why I gave you that background on him.
[00:21:55.540]And the team of five,
[00:21:57.800]we've discussed a little bit, Terry,
[00:21:59.580]remember if we got, we got the rep team there,
[00:22:02.960]it might be missing, but,
[00:22:04.090]Jim Nichols, range scientist at the time.
[00:22:07.090]Dick Clark, an economist.
[00:22:09.150]Gene Deutscher, a physiologist.
[00:22:11.410]And Ivan Rush, the beef extension specialist.
[00:22:14.040]Ivan's still in the Scotts Bluff.
[00:22:17.220]But I would say this was the first,
[00:22:19.840]one of the early IRM teams, okay?
[00:22:22.280]Integrated Resource Management.
[00:22:23.910]Different disciplines working together,
[00:22:26.910]a common interest to put this ranch,
[00:22:30.080]and undertake the research that was put forward.
[00:22:35.690]Investigative production management questions
[00:22:37.880]pertinent to the region.
[00:22:41.060]Today, Kelly's the director, Kelly Browns.
[00:22:46.948]A couple of generations from Don Clanton,
[00:22:49.180]but Travis Molinic's now been in the slot,
[00:22:52.090]that to be the nutrition and range livestock nutrition.
[00:22:56.940]Rick Clenston has had a good career,
[00:22:59.540]he followed Gene Deutscher, kind of, in that role.
[00:23:04.228]And Gerry Goleski would have been the one that followed
[00:23:08.160]to Nick, so that turnover and that generation to generation
[00:23:12.910]that's continued.
[00:23:15.810]Don Adams, I think he's played a key role
[00:23:19.770]in most of his research career after he left Lyle city.
[00:23:24.590]It was spent at Gudmundsen,
[00:23:26.520]taking it to the steps that have intervened from them.
[00:23:31.040]A lot of his perspective and that, again,
[00:23:33.380]that systems mentality that resulted
[00:23:37.415]from Donald's touching this as well.
[00:23:43.500]You know whether it's here or research ranch or otherwise,
[00:23:47.400]that it takes a lot to,
[00:23:49.819]of technician and operational kind of things to conduct,
[00:23:54.340]so Andy, Jacki, and John are a big help
[00:23:58.510]and a big part of what goes on.
[00:24:02.029]The donors, the people that have seen
[00:24:05.416]the guy who died in the Sandhills area
[00:24:08.530]and supported that financially.
[00:24:10.500]It allowed the additional facilities to be built.
[00:24:15.757]If you know where it is, there,
[00:24:17.190]not too far out of Whitman.
[00:24:20.720]Central to the Sandhills,
[00:24:23.680]very important to where it's located
[00:24:28.340]and the impact then in those production systems.
[00:24:36.440]Well, sometimes it goes and sometimes it doesn't.
[00:24:40.221]The Sandhills, a great resource.
[00:24:43.930]And these wet meadows,
[00:24:45.200]the high water table Ogallala aquifer.
[00:24:49.218]The high water table, and then the uplands,
[00:24:51.790]the Sandhills themselves
[00:24:54.640]have provided quite a unique environment.
[00:24:57.620]There's a ranch in '81 a few years after it was gifted.
[00:25:01.420]Berry Woods still had those, and you can see the,
[00:25:04.550]the horse barn and then some of the other things
[00:25:07.233]that were there at the time.
[00:25:10.530]And it's a little blurry,
[00:25:13.030]but it kind of shows some of the expansion,
[00:25:15.500]Wagner Hamburg center over here
[00:25:17.383]and the student housing as well.
[00:25:21.600]Laid out like that,
[00:25:24.693]it carries about 500 cows as well as the yearling operation.
[00:25:32.410]About 18 to 20 acres for cow capacity
[00:25:35.730]was pretty typical of that Sandhills region.
[00:25:42.940]When, wait that's not tenable.
[00:25:47.188]There we go.
[00:25:49.988]'83 and '85 next to '82 to '85
[00:25:53.809]was when I had the opportunity to work with my PhD program,
[00:25:57.687]and in those research pastures that run along the side hill,
[00:26:04.770]and then there was a heifer project that was right,
[00:26:09.580]kind of during the 1984 NRC B revision, okay?
[00:26:16.290]Don was on that committee,
[00:26:19.070]and so we undertook to kind of fine tune
[00:26:22.130]some of those recommendations related to
[00:26:24.810]replacement heifers and young cows.
[00:26:31.106]Now, the research and the systems,
[00:26:35.710]systems research that's currently in place,
[00:26:39.040]and has continued to hallmark, I think, a good sum.
[00:26:44.930]Significant accomplishments over the time you have as--
[00:26:47.998](coughing)
[00:26:49.068]The systems approach--
[00:26:50.398](coughing)
[00:26:51.710]The research that's been undertaken.
[00:26:54.170]Early work, and this is a quote from Don Adams.
[00:26:58.720]For example, early work was primarily conducted
[00:27:02.540]on components of production.
[00:27:04.150]I think he means by that early work,
[00:27:06.320]not just at Gudmundsen,
[00:27:07.620]but kind of in our history of academics.
[00:27:13.240]The component research--
[00:27:14.337](coughing)
[00:27:15.457]As time progressed, it became clear,
[00:27:18.820]to build a systems approach from pre-breeding
[00:27:21.860]to harvest better identifies and describes
[00:27:24.910]the overall impact on a ranch.
[00:27:29.078]This idea, and the importance of recognizing that
[00:27:33.820]the components need to fit together into a system
[00:27:36.415]where they do fit together in a system,
[00:27:38.108]and so researching and recognizing those interactions
[00:27:44.330]within an important part of what's going on up there.
[00:27:50.090]A systems approach often changes
[00:27:51.790]the interpretation of results obtained from research,
[00:27:55.757]the research that deals only with segments,
[00:27:59.020]and this next slide will show one of the examples of that.
[00:28:03.530]To tell you your conclusions you research your change
[00:28:05.740]as economics and deeper understanding
[00:28:08.410]of biological principles have evolved
[00:28:12.222]with further investigation.
[00:28:14.540]Things build. Research kind of builds line upon line
[00:28:19.210]and brings out the market value of Sandhills pasture.
[00:28:24.910]Who would have expected that Sandhills summer range
[00:28:29.213]would be $80 in cow-capped units a month, but,
[00:28:35.680]relative to the price of other things.
[00:28:40.840]And so, when this early work all lists several aspects,
[00:28:45.480]10 actually, that we put together.
[00:28:47.755]And one of which relates to this,
[00:28:49.550]but this relation, economically changes,
[00:28:54.140]therefore the systems plays into that.
[00:28:57.900]Therefore, this changed the relationship
[00:29:00.310]between grazing and hay feeding in some situations.
[00:29:04.230]Not all, but,
[00:29:06.760]well, I guess I divert for just a minute
[00:29:09.323]the confined cattle work that has taken place
[00:29:12.870]here and at Scotts Bluff.
[00:29:17.700]It's driven to an extent by the cost of that $80 at summer,
[00:29:24.000]or $80 lent to its summer cattle in Sandhills.
[00:29:28.243]And so a lot of these interactions
[00:29:29.820]that need to be considered and
[00:29:32.710]kind of change how we do it.
[00:29:36.220]The hallmark though,
[00:29:37.570]has been this extended grazing strategy.
[00:29:41.000]Less hay feeding, historically,
[00:29:45.050]and that led to kind of where Rick is right now
[00:29:48.930]as this fetal programming might,
[00:29:52.850]gestation supplementation
[00:29:54.540]and the effects that come from that.
[00:29:57.770]Fetal programming is one of
[00:29:58.710]the most significant findings at GSL.
[00:30:03.610]Fetal programming work of several graduate student theses.
[00:30:07.130]Journal articles showing the impact of weaning on
[00:30:09.707]leaning weight, carcass weight,
[00:30:12.550]the heifer and cow reproduction, and carcass traits.
[00:30:15.910]That system, what's happening during gestation
[00:30:20.410]and having that enlargement impact on these other,
[00:30:24.730]being the typic
[00:30:25.630]and production traits way down the line.
[00:30:31.440]First research site, one of the first to demonstrate
[00:30:34.040]in at least in a practical way
[00:30:36.627]how these fetal programming things,
[00:30:38.500]and did the cattle come together.
[00:30:47.030]I mentioned that Kelly Browns and I set out
[00:30:50.190]to identify 10 things that we felt,
[00:30:54.830]and you may come up with other ideas and so on,
[00:30:58.480]but added chronologically as well as building system,
[00:31:03.826]or point on point,
[00:31:07.010]that have taken place in that 40 year period of time.
[00:31:12.620]There was an early study which, ear corn, okay?
[00:31:19.080]Those of you who are kinda in that era,
[00:31:22.550]there was a change in the Sandhills
[00:31:25.560]when Senator Pitts came out to raise corn.
[00:31:29.410]No low water table, or high water table.
[00:31:32.306]Meadows, some areas at least that,
[00:31:37.200]and when cows looked like they were thin,
[00:31:41.170]naturally it was a good thing to feed them ear corn, right?
[00:31:45.580]Terry, am I kinda getting the logic right?
[00:31:49.950]Well, they certainly were deficient in energy,
[00:31:53.670]but it was a protein-induced energy deficiency.
[00:31:57.660]By feeding more energy, basically what you did,
[00:32:00.450]common knowledge now of that negative associative effect
[00:32:07.493]that by feeding the protein,
[00:32:08.900]they increased the digestibility of the grass, the hay,
[00:32:14.660]took care of the energy deficiency
[00:32:16.430]by adding protein along with it,
[00:32:19.880]or to it.
[00:32:21.860]That's a great study that I used to use
[00:32:24.020]extensively at Colorado State,
[00:32:25.910]to teach those principles and the interaction
[00:32:28.810]between starch and fiber and deficient protein,
[00:32:35.110]and the impacts of it.
[00:32:40.180]Not most always the preferred winner supplement,
[00:32:43.340]the protein rather than the starch.
[00:32:47.870]Self-harvesting,
[00:32:51.350]another great study that came out of Gudmundsen.
[00:32:54.660]That was was that systems approach of hay versus graze,
[00:33:01.330]winter grazing.
[00:33:02.480]Maximizing self-harvesting, minimizing machine parts.
[00:33:08.100]Self-harvesting by grazing, generally the most economical.
[00:33:14.180]Systems approach, we're kind of already talking about that,
[00:33:16.800]and training students.
[00:33:19.010]Terry,
[00:33:19.843]I remember when we were putting the abstract together,
[00:33:20.810]that was one of the points that you brought out clearly,
[00:33:24.310]is that this systems thinking and transitive systems,
[00:33:28.000]training students rather,
[00:33:31.607]has been a hallmark.
[00:33:36.600]Don Adams, I think,
[00:33:39.500]took this concept of matching the production
[00:33:44.130]of that forage along with the production of the cow,
[00:33:46.820]and moved the historic March and even February calving
[00:33:51.680]back to a time when they're more suited for the growth of,
[00:33:59.190]the quality, the quality and quantity of the forage,
[00:34:02.560]and that kind of spread through the, not just in Nebraska,
[00:34:06.390]but throughout the whole US
[00:34:08.530]and maybe a bit in some parts of the world.
[00:34:12.430]Better matching this grass growth along with
[00:34:17.800]the gestation period and lactation period of the cow.
[00:34:25.370]NRC models, also the one I mentioned,
[00:34:27.700]the '84 and again in '96, Terry, and I think this is,
[00:34:32.157]and you can throw it beside the specific publications
[00:34:36.120]that have come from GSL
[00:34:39.680]that showed a major impact from what this,
[00:34:45.280]the science that's been going on there has had
[00:34:47.930]throughout the academic and the profession.
[00:34:53.210]Distiller's grains.
[00:34:56.960]What year did ethanol and distiller's grains
[00:35:03.720]kind of enter the scene?
[00:35:08.110]James?
[00:35:09.490]'97, '98, somewhere around there.
[00:35:11.002]'97, '98, good.
[00:35:13.120]And so naturally, as that was happening,
[00:35:19.284]I think several were involved in using
[00:35:23.740]that distiller's grain and supplements
[00:35:27.094]in these protein-deficient areas.
[00:35:31.796]At least during the winter grazing period.
[00:35:34.446]And gestating cows,
[00:35:35.550]beneficial nutrient profile for gestating cows.
[00:35:39.610]Grazing cool season, meadows and upland range.
[00:35:51.460]Mentioned the fetal programming
[00:35:53.720]and the type of supplementation.
[00:35:56.888]With respect on the components I mentioned previously.
[00:36:00.155]The condition of the cow, weight of the calf,
[00:36:02.350]carcass traits, cow productivity
[00:36:04.910]though these now better understood, there's a science of,
[00:36:09.084]kind of epigenetic,
[00:36:11.650]responses have been identified.
[00:36:20.730]Number nine, well number eight.
[00:36:23.200]The range practicum.
[00:36:25.080]I'll tell a little bit more about that in just a second.
[00:36:28.560]Big opportunity to just train in systems approach
[00:36:32.580]and year-round the changes.
[00:36:35.460]Heifer development.
[00:36:36.293]Greg's done a lot of work on that and continues to do.
[00:36:40.169]And then the balance between the sub-irrigated
[00:36:44.580]meadow management and forage management systems,
[00:36:49.030]whether they be, now historically in the Sandhills,
[00:36:52.847]and those of you have worked in that area,
[00:36:56.580]hay all summer, so you can feed the hay all winter.
[00:37:00.477]But grazing those meadows, I think,
[00:37:04.230]maybe not solely dependent on what was done in GSL,
[00:37:07.747]but kind of went hand in hand with that recognition
[00:37:11.520]and changes that have taken place in productive systems.
[00:37:20.910]Just a word about some of the other educational things
[00:37:25.113]that take place at Gudmundsen.
[00:37:27.227]The Cattleman's Day, Youth Field Day,
[00:37:28.930]an Open House of course, and then the practicum.
[00:37:34.039]Brilliant idea, I don't know who all
[00:37:35.990]was involved in putting that idea together,
[00:37:38.950]but they actually get the ranchers involved,
[00:37:42.410]and seeing these--
[00:37:44.324](clearing throat)
[00:37:47.080]of cattle grazing,
[00:37:48.030]and look at that the extrusa and do the analysis there,
[00:37:52.240]so that it became very much a hands-on,
[00:37:55.370]clear demonstration of how that works.
[00:38:00.290]Three season hands-on educational program,
[00:38:02.830]good participant skills, rather complex ranching industry,
[00:38:07.960]and then a systems approach to livestock and,
[00:38:10.293]including bringing the economic considerations into it.
[00:38:14.990]This is a slide that Rick Flenston shared with me,
[00:38:17.840]as he's been involved closely with the ranch practicum,
[00:38:21.670]managing the grass and cattle cycles
[00:38:24.740]and putting those together in a very systems approach
[00:38:29.344]kind of endeavor.
[00:38:32.720]Been successful since it was started,
[00:38:37.470]I guess this is the 20th year,
[00:38:39.970]over 500 participants,
[00:38:43.530]influence, about over 4,620 people.
[00:38:51.245]And good evaluation,
[00:38:53.280]and good feedback from those who participated.
[00:38:56.917]One currently is going on in 2018 version.
[00:39:01.664]In fact, I just see November 1st to about 5th
[00:39:03.900]GSL again for another part of that.
[00:39:10.840]With that, I'll close.
[00:39:14.780]When I say so, you may have redefined those 10,
[00:39:18.477]but those were kind of the 10 we thought
[00:39:21.069]were highlights and just happened to do stuff.
[00:39:25.677]Questions for Jack?
[00:39:28.000]How are we doing on time,
[00:39:29.189]and is there a class in here at one?
[00:39:31.740]Does anybody know?
[00:39:33.630]Phil?
[00:39:34.463]I don't know if there is, but you're good on time.
[00:39:36.938]Aren't you the acting department head?
[00:39:38.325]Yeah.
[00:39:39.158](laughter)
[00:39:39.991]I thought the administrators knew all of these--
[00:39:41.698]No, I'm not.
[00:39:43.389](laughter)
[00:39:44.600]Jennifer says it was good till two,
[00:39:46.629]I'm no planning to go that far.
[00:39:47.789]Oh, okay. There is a class.
[00:39:49.298]Jennifer would know, okay? Exactly.
[00:39:53.150]Another hour, I'm surprised that you have--
[00:39:57.248]Good time for discussion,
[00:39:58.303]questions, or comments.
[00:40:01.488]What exactly is fetal programming?
[00:40:05.480]Yeah, good question.
[00:40:07.180]It's a term that's been used to, kind of,
[00:40:10.850]classify that the maternal nutrition, okay,
[00:40:14.060]so in the case of cows,
[00:40:17.269]I guess there's a study that initiated with Don Adams,
[00:40:20.620]where protein supplementation
[00:40:25.060]was minimized or maybe excluded,
[00:40:28.210]no supplementation for protein on protein-deficient diets.
[00:40:32.930]Cows that were laid to a station.
[00:40:35.430]And then that has a uterine effect,
[00:40:39.780]I guess actually a fetal effect as well,
[00:40:42.540]on some of the programming, genetic programming or,
[00:40:48.400]what's the word I'm looking for--
[00:40:49.346]Developmental, probably.
[00:40:50.549]Pardon?
[00:40:51.555]Developmental.
[00:40:52.420]Yeah, developmental I'm thinking more about
[00:40:55.270]epigenetic, probably.
[00:40:56.437]Yeah.
[00:41:01.733]Is that mostly nutritional?
[00:41:04.670]Yeah, it's nutrition affecting,
[00:41:06.850]kind of the expression of the genes, basically.
[00:41:11.940]Later in life,
[00:41:14.404]some of you may know more,
[00:41:16.750]I mean, the basic science of it,
[00:41:19.567]but that's the principle,
[00:41:20.930]is that nutritional interfacing then
[00:41:26.220]with the maternal period that the fetus is growing.
[00:41:31.913]That'd probably work
[00:41:32.980]with especially the June mechanic, right?
[00:41:35.996]To not feed any hay unless it was total snow-covered, right?
[00:41:41.630]It was a few hundred pounds a year of hay,
[00:41:43.970]as I recall, right?
[00:41:46.490]Those cows, during ovovid to late gestation
[00:41:51.690]were on range and then not supplemented, right?
[00:42:00.610]Or supplemented, you know? Did it work?
[00:42:03.660]And the ones that weren't supplemented,
[00:42:05.010]re-bred themselves, right?
[00:42:06.644]Physiology's important, cow breeding is important,
[00:42:09.040]so therefore, it was a good thing, okay?
[00:42:11.530]Systems work following that,
[00:42:15.295]but the calves were affected, right?
[00:42:18.500]That's, the cow, not really--
[00:42:22.375]As I remember the data,
[00:42:24.310]some cows that would get down into body condition three,
[00:42:28.150]and they'd be pregnant, okay?
[00:42:30.960]Three at the end of the rough period,
[00:42:34.430]but by the time they were ready to breed,
[00:42:36.960]there'd been enough regrowth and spring growth to breed--
[00:42:41.740]Like a flushing effect.
[00:42:43.716]Flushing effect.
[00:42:46.095]But the fetus that was being gestated
[00:42:49.400]during that deficiency time,
[00:42:54.830]well there were repercussions.
[00:42:59.476]In fact, even it'd been the heifers from that,
[00:43:01.980]then had reproductive problems as I recall, okay?
[00:43:05.055]It carries over.
[00:43:07.120]This was before it became cool
[00:43:08.970]to talk about fetal programming, right?
[00:43:11.169](laughter)
[00:43:12.070]It's a cop, now things in the environment,
[00:43:15.840]plastics, can affect all that stuff.
[00:43:20.720]Plastics, I'd have to visit with you.
[00:43:21.817]I don't know about that side of it.
[00:43:23.930]Certain baby bottles.
[00:43:26.600]Other questions?
[00:43:28.170]Comments?
[00:43:29.975]What's the makeup of the herd now?
[00:43:33.670]The genetic makeup?
[00:43:37.380]Somebody else will have to answer that,
[00:43:38.850]because I'm not that posted,
[00:43:40.260]I know there are, they went to,
[00:43:44.920]they were using mark threes,
[00:43:47.820]but I think that's converted to--
[00:43:49.850]I think that's bulls from the university herd.
[00:43:56.330]So husker reds--
[00:43:58.000]Red angus, simmental, and something else.
[00:44:01.772]A composite, yeah, okay.
[00:44:06.092]Composite bulls.
[00:44:07.277]At the time we were starting,
[00:44:09.600]there was certainly no money to spare,
[00:44:13.010]so I made an arrangement with Keith Gregory
[00:44:15.960]and we got to use those mark three bulls,
[00:44:18.450]they are herd bulls.
[00:44:19.780]After they were finished with them.
[00:44:21.410]And then we would certainly market those bulls
[00:44:25.170]in the name and the mark.
[00:44:27.250]If we lost one, it cost us $500 I think it was.
[00:44:30.907]But later there was more freedom.
[00:44:35.180]Did we have to populate
[00:44:36.810]all the cows when we started, too?
[00:44:41.143]When the ranch started, it was all the cows.
[00:44:43.270]The thing is, there was a research project,
[00:44:47.630]it was rented land.
[00:44:50.130]Just east of Tryon, the Sandhills egg lab.
[00:44:53.290]There was a 200-head herd there.
[00:44:55.510]And those black bull there,
[00:44:57.840]angus Hereford cows were moved to Gudmundsen.
[00:45:02.030]And then we bought, it was about 500 heifers,
[00:45:09.280]and we AI'd those in a feed lab near North Platte
[00:45:13.090]and then those were moved to the ranch
[00:45:14.860]to make up the rest of the herd.
[00:45:17.500]And then we started using mark three bulls after that.
[00:45:23.700]Levon?
[00:45:30.610]The deed,
[00:45:32.160]State money wasn't put into that, is that correct?
[00:45:38.550]Basically, you had to finance this--
[00:45:42.928]I mentioned to Jack,
[00:45:45.120]when I came in as director at North Platte,
[00:45:48.820]in January of '81, we're taking over the ranch in May,
[00:45:56.649]so I met immediately with the administrators on campus,
[00:46:01.660]and I said "What budget are you gonna set aside?"
[00:46:04.320]That's your job.
[00:46:06.580]We had 200 cows to transfer,
[00:46:08.620]but there was no operating money.
[00:46:10.710]And so we took 20,000 out of
[00:46:13.830]the North Platte budget for starters,
[00:46:17.010]and I asked for in kind the support from the campus,
[00:46:21.870]but I never did get a message back,
[00:46:24.730]but there was a, when Fort Robinson was started,
[00:46:30.157]it was a federal station, and there was no,
[00:46:35.010]any money that was generated there would go
[00:46:36.870]back into the wonderful US Treasury.
[00:46:39.940]The arrangement was made
[00:46:40.810]to use the revolving fund of the university.
[00:46:44.110]And there was a loan, actually,
[00:46:46.080]from the athletics department,
[00:46:47.870]which was tiny compared to now,
[00:46:50.350]but that provided an operating budget for starters.
[00:46:55.020]One of my first jobs for this
[00:46:56.100]was to visit with the director Mark.
[00:46:58.630]Do you know of the history?
[00:47:00.928]And he says "I'm aware of it."
[00:47:01.761]But I said "What are you good for?"
[00:47:03.210]And a loan, say up to five, six years.
[00:47:08.800]And he said "Well, see what others will do."
[00:47:10.380]And I said "Ellen Muller isn't gonna accept that as a"--
[00:47:13.126](laughter)
[00:47:14.326]He would never say "So, I'm driving to Lincoln."
[00:47:17.700]Saying "What am I gonna say? What am I gonna say?"
[00:47:20.147]When it, three minutes after we sat down,
[00:47:23.200]he said "What will Mark do?"
[00:47:25.870]I said "Put him down for 150,000."
[00:47:28.006]I thought, well,
[00:47:28.839]I was looking for a job when I got to this one,
[00:47:30.920]and if it doesn't work--
[00:47:31.817](laughter)
[00:47:35.870]Bob Olson was the director then.
[00:47:37.550]He set up an account of 150,000 for us.
[00:47:40.997]And we agreed to pay it back in five years.
[00:47:45.240]And we did it in four.
[00:47:47.147]And so that got us,
[00:47:48.800]that helped a great deal to get us a start.
[00:47:51.250]Then there was a, the chancellor, Madsongale,
[00:47:55.417]called a little while later and said
[00:47:57.570]that there was a $20,000 grant from the Lew Foundation.
[00:48:02.400]And they said "Can you use that at Gudmundsen?"
[00:48:07.040]I said "Well, you need a cow handling facility."
[00:48:10.210]And we used that for that.
[00:48:11.500]Clanton fussed when,
[00:48:13.435]he said "You spent $600 on a plaque for that?"
[00:48:19.530]I said "Listen. Any time somebody will give us $20,000
[00:48:23.053]"all of my plaques all belong, for $600."
[00:48:27.190]But anyway, there was some stress and strain at that time,
[00:48:30.160]but it came together.
[00:48:31.970]And part of it was the absolute logic
[00:48:34.500]of having an arranged facility,
[00:48:36.960]with the amount of resources
[00:48:38.300]devoted to cattle production in this state.
[00:48:42.720]My recollection is that
[00:48:45.810]you pay tax on that land, is that right?
[00:48:49.705]It was for a time.
[00:48:52.570]Oh, okay.
[00:48:53.470]But then, let's say the foundation owned it,
[00:48:56.120]they didn't have to, but we paid some in-kind taxes,
[00:48:59.470]or taxes in-kind.
[00:49:02.740]Just for local PR.
[00:49:07.222]That was a question I had,
[00:49:08.230]is there any problem with the neighbors on property tax now?
[00:49:14.340]I'm not in touch.
[00:49:16.200]The neighbor thing we got early, they owe us,
[00:49:19.600]why didn't the Gudmundsens give us a chance
[00:49:21.830]to buy that ranch?
[00:49:24.290]That's one reason we had this gathering of ranchers
[00:49:27.490]in the first fall, was to have them understand
[00:49:30.780]what we could do there.
[00:49:31.850]And that's gradually, that's filling gradually quite a way.
[00:49:37.240]Yeah, I think as well,
[00:49:38.963]I think it's been accepted very well
[00:49:41.620]because of the spillover effect,
[00:49:43.710]the science and the production things
[00:49:45.650]that's been discovered there, right?
[00:49:47.450]I think that the relationship and the respect
[00:49:50.930]for the university is quite high because of that.
[00:49:55.380]I think Andy Applegarth has helped that a lot.
[00:49:59.420]He grew up on the neighboring ranch.
[00:50:02.134]And when he took over as manager,
[00:50:04.070]it was a local guy.
[00:50:05.980]That's kind of the cultural incentive, right.
[00:50:08.187]People are important, right?
[00:50:10.950]And they linked, Mick Nodell as the first manager
[00:50:14.080]and he had the same approach.
[00:50:16.881]They partnered on fighting fires, and branding,
[00:50:23.540]and those kinds of things.
[00:50:24.700]Wherever there was a community effort needed one.
[00:50:27.481]They did that, and they,
[00:50:29.073]became a solid citizen of the community.
[00:50:36.380]Early '80's weren't really
[00:50:37.500]a great economical time to start a new venture.
[00:50:42.230]It was a long time, and in '81,
[00:50:46.970]when we went in in July
[00:50:48.820]we got a slight little increase in bucket.
[00:50:52.120]We filled our positions and so on.
[00:50:54.200]Then in Black Friday, in November I believe it was,
[00:51:01.230]the budget was cut 3%.
[00:51:04.470]State income wasn't high enough.
[00:51:06.961]Because we had all the positions filled,
[00:51:09.690]all of that had to come out of operating,
[00:51:11.290]so 3% became 14% (laughs)
[00:51:14.612]so I was going around in North Platte saying
[00:51:16.427]"Well, I'm sorry,
[00:51:17.260]"you got a slight reduction in your budget."
[00:51:19.400]That wasn't fun, but anyway,
[00:51:21.003]then I got a call from the late Howard Odgson,
[00:51:24.570]who was associate vice-chancellor then,
[00:51:27.940]and he says "Levon, we need to make a deal."
[00:51:31.510]What are we, are we gonna now close Gudmundsen, or what?
[00:51:33.972]Well he said "University can't borrow money.
[00:51:37.727]"But since the foundation owns your ranch,
[00:51:40.097]"we could sell your cattle to the foundation
[00:51:44.427]"and then pay them back over time."
[00:51:46.120]We sold them 600 cows at $500 apiece, or whatever it was.
[00:51:51.311]And they agreed to pay it back in seven.
[00:51:54.010]And things were favorable for us, then,
[00:51:55.867]and we paid it back in five.
[00:51:58.350]But that really saved our bacon in the budget cut.
[00:52:04.240]Anyway.
[00:52:05.073]Done with the history.
[00:52:07.620]My experience at the ranch
[00:52:10.810]is that it's really set up to do research.
[00:52:16.810]I'm not aware of all other facilities,
[00:52:19.160]but it is a unique facility, it's very practical,
[00:52:22.880]and yet the facilities are there to do research.
[00:52:28.092]It's outstanding.
[00:52:29.970]Well that goes back to that.
[00:52:31.590]That team that put it together,
[00:52:33.200]with the idea that it was gonna be a research,
[00:52:36.132]a very applied research thing,
[00:52:39.582]and it is, I agree.
[00:52:41.780]Jack, you mentioned this thing,
[00:52:43.644]administrators staying out of the rig.
[00:52:45.490]Now, basically we said to that team and some of the other
[00:52:48.600]cooperators from that agronomy and so on,
[00:52:52.147]"You design the work, we'll try to supply the money.
[00:52:55.697]"Hopefully to meet what you're doing."
[00:53:00.150]One of the things that, Gudmundsen,
[00:53:07.514]rambled about when we had somebody call on them
[00:53:10.220]when they lived in subsidy every year until,
[00:53:12.960]as long as they were living.
[00:53:14.720]And the very first year, when Don Clanton went down,
[00:53:18.350]he described what they're doing,
[00:53:19.390]he says "What the hell are you doing to that ranch?
[00:53:21.477]"I turned over a good working ranch to you!"
[00:53:26.490]Don had a hard time explaining that this is now
[00:53:28.860]a research operation and those pastures that you worked in,
[00:53:32.120]you probably know that he walked every foot of those
[00:53:35.540]to measure them to be equal capacity pastures for research.
[00:53:44.040]Some of them differ in size to fit the terrain.
[00:53:49.177]My question is,
[00:53:50.310]I just would like to know,
[00:53:52.460]when we compare for example
[00:53:54.708]the soybean and corn producers in Nebraska,
[00:53:59.265]how well they use the technological package available,
[00:54:02.730]I think the information's gonna be,
[00:54:05.080]you've professed that.
[00:54:07.120]It's happened in Brazil, that's my experience.
[00:54:10.080]How about cow calf branchers and stalkers.
[00:54:13.770]With all of the information you generate here,
[00:54:17.275]and how fast is it used by those producers?
[00:54:22.000]Not at the speed of crops people,
[00:54:24.150]I'd agree with that.
[00:54:25.080]And having spent a career in adult extension,
[00:54:30.700]adoption is very much,
[00:54:34.580]show me first and make sure it's financially sound.
[00:54:40.970]And it takes awhile for that adaptation to,
[00:54:43.900]adoption rather to take place.
[00:54:48.110]In fact Jim last,
[00:54:49.350]was it last week that John probably brought that point out,
[00:54:53.680]as far as what one of the components
[00:54:57.860]of this integrated beef system
[00:55:00.210]is to foster adoption in the cattle industry.
[00:55:07.430]No horses due, there's some space between them.
[00:55:14.300]It's about anytime that risk's associated with big changes
[00:55:17.730]are probably greater in cattle than they might be in crops,
[00:55:22.410]because they're slower to come, okay?
[00:55:26.170]If you don't but a herbicide on your crop,
[00:55:31.290]or a pesticide or whatever,
[00:55:32.970]you see it that summer.
[00:55:35.260]But with cattle operations,
[00:55:37.170]it's two or three years before you may see the--
[00:55:43.653]One of the helpful things on earlier adoption,
[00:55:48.513]is that we've been lucky enough to have ranchers
[00:55:51.040]in various places around the state
[00:55:53.911]that were early adopters.
[00:55:56.000]Very research-oriented.
[00:55:57.450]And then that would spin off within that community.
[00:55:59.583]Well, what are you doing?
[00:56:00.416]You seem to be doing something different now.
[00:56:02.617]And the talk at the coffee shop and various places
[00:56:08.960]is more of an influence over time than coming to the,
[00:56:14.130]necessarily to the research ranch.
[00:56:16.920]If the neighbors are making it work, then maybe I can too.
[00:56:21.140]And to add do that,
[00:56:22.710]I think the practicum makes people,
[00:56:26.283]has just been tremendous, right?
[00:56:29.234]To be able to spread that.
[00:56:30.880]The 4,600 people that you have there,
[00:56:32.117]and think of their effect in the broader area
[00:56:36.537]of where they came from.
[00:56:40.670]You gotta be patient though, don't you?
[00:56:44.377]Gonna add a, did you have a question?
[00:56:46.329]I was a curious about, I guess,
[00:56:48.330]about hampered development in the Sandhills
[00:56:51.160]and where do those heifers go after it evolve?
[00:56:55.030]They don't stay in the Sandhills, they go to other systems.
[00:56:58.150]How much data has been collected
[00:56:59.640]on how well those efforts perform, reproductively,
[00:57:04.110]or the progeny, performance wise,
[00:57:07.280]plus those hampered leaving the Sandhills
[00:57:09.680]and going to other, and I don't know,
[00:57:11.867]but maybe most of the heifers stay at Sandhills,
[00:57:13.540]I don't know.
[00:57:15.022]That's a good question.
[00:57:16.790]Typically, ranchers would develop for their own replacement,
[00:57:21.500]maybe a few others, but there's a fair amount of,
[00:57:28.600]those heifers only go into feed lots
[00:57:30.380]and not go reproductive.
[00:57:32.700]I remember, too, this kind of reflection on time, but,
[00:57:37.780]there was a stage, when I first got to Colorado
[00:57:40.564]that heifers had to be developed in feed lots,
[00:57:43.960]that was the mentality,
[00:57:45.490]that in order to get them to breed and so on,
[00:57:47.480]you had to put them in feed lots and develop them
[00:57:54.131]and that, yeah, there's still a lot of heifers
[00:57:56.610]developed in feed lots, but fewer and fewer
[00:57:59.240]and this idea of, imprinting or whatever
[00:58:05.420]as they learn to graze, or spend more time grazing,
[00:58:09.700]that actually carries over
[00:58:11.330]into the later part of their production.
[00:58:15.230]And that June calving system,
[00:58:18.840]it's almost a case study in what are the other consequences?
[00:58:26.040]Because that was a tremendous change,
[00:58:28.010]but there are some challenges
[00:58:30.330]getting those young females to re-breed
[00:58:32.950]because now you're on the other end,
[00:58:35.790]downslope for quality and so,
[00:58:40.610]I'm not critical at all of the research,
[00:58:42.347]but there's other, there's always other consequences
[00:58:44.960]of changing the system and as Don pointed out,
[00:58:48.360]you would never know that
[00:58:50.010]if you just looked at the components,
[00:58:52.200]because that thing is run as a system,
[00:58:54.630]now I think that Busten, Travis, and others
[00:58:58.080]are looking at that re-breeding of that
[00:59:01.270]three-year old female after she's had her first calf.
[00:59:05.380]Good point, that.
[00:59:07.100]It seems like the more you discover,
[00:59:08.740]the more you need to discover,
[00:59:10.540]and that's what's happening.
[00:59:12.120]That's what Rick and Travis are doing right now,
[00:59:14.270]is looking at that bottleneck.
[00:59:17.610]Seems like there's,
[00:59:18.620]seems like there'd probably be some benefits
[00:59:20.160]from developing those heifers a little more slowly
[00:59:22.908]rather than, I don't know.
[00:59:26.007]One of those possibilities, see,
[00:59:29.080]that June calving, or May,
[00:59:32.818]and Don made the decision to go to June.
[00:59:35.390]I think, you can't, I suppose you could,
[00:59:40.260]but it'd be really difficult to do
[00:59:42.370]March, April, May, June, July calving to compare it,
[00:59:45.980]whatever's the outcome, a month?
[00:59:48.270]They do that in Missouri, you know?
[00:59:49.903](laughter)
[00:59:55.840]We have 30-day calving seasons,
[00:59:57.930]there are 12 of them every year.
[00:59:59.379](laughter)
[01:00:02.650]See, now you've ruined
[01:00:03.483]the whole train of thought.
[01:00:06.953]But, the opportunity to bring March calving heifers
[01:00:13.210]into the June herd,
[01:00:14.930]and give them that extra three months to develop,
[01:00:17.810]you see what I mean, because developing for two years
[01:00:20.890]to calve in two years can be a challenge.
[01:00:24.010]Another thought on that is,
[01:00:26.840]we use a lot of corn residue in Nebraska,
[01:00:29.550]and kind of imprinting that on heifers
[01:00:32.709]is a great opportunity as well,
[01:00:36.460]so that they're set with that and when they're a cow.
[01:00:44.069]I want to say thanks
[01:00:45.299]for pulling this information together
[01:00:47.536]and putting it in presentation,
[01:00:49.643]I wasn't aware that it'd go into the meeting,
[01:00:51.810]that's great.
[01:00:53.950]Have you ever thought about
[01:00:54.820]doing a university publication of some type?
[01:00:58.170]Maybe not this time.
[01:00:59.900]Maybe in 50 years or something to where you do,
[01:01:03.360]kind of a big picture look at everything.
[01:01:07.360]Actually I wanted to,
[01:01:09.510]and Kelly's not here to defend himself,
[01:01:11.187]but we did talk about, well,
[01:01:14.357]this abstract is going to be
[01:01:17.840]in the beef report next year, okay?
[01:01:22.619]When he says next year, that's about a month.
[01:01:24.690]Yeah, that's right.
[01:01:27.490]It's in the one coming out.
[01:01:29.730]Then with the idea of maybe it can go
[01:01:31.130]in a general science article,
[01:01:34.679]but we haven't had a lot of inertia on that part yet.
[01:01:39.498]And just think about in the past
[01:01:41.200]there were publications like that that I could pull out
[01:01:43.860]and read some things about animal science,
[01:01:45.610]or other programs that it'd be great
[01:01:50.130]to keep that kind of stuff going.
[01:01:52.978]I agree with you, this is a great facility,
[01:01:56.090]it's a great story, starting back with Gudmundsen's.
[01:02:01.580]Building that to the university and just how that happened,
[01:02:05.403]it's just a tremendous story.
[01:02:08.830]I got another futuristic question, man.
[01:02:11.750]What happens to this ranch in the future
[01:02:17.353]and would there be thoughts to change the,
[01:02:20.833]what does GM stand for,
[01:02:24.010]of including all that in those different--
[01:02:29.402]Disciplines.
[01:02:30.972]Of management by social.
[01:02:32.513]Yeah, all those different disciplines
[01:02:34.380]into work at Gudmundsen.
[01:02:39.832]Jim, that's what's happening
[01:02:42.160]with this big initiative right now is,
[01:02:45.660]Gudmundsen would be an integral part of that
[01:02:47.870]to continue that--
[01:02:51.479]Maybe not so much CS.
[01:02:56.870]Of course, I'd still say that's important, too.
[01:03:00.120]It is, depending how you do that.
[01:03:02.320]It's yet to be kind of, they're still working on that S.
[01:03:07.152]I don't think you'd abandon the S, it's just that the,
[01:03:09.861]if you don't include people in that discussion,
[01:03:12.160]how are you gonna get there, right?
[01:03:15.720]Yeah, I think that's common,
[01:03:17.040]and you think about critical linkages in our history, okay,
[01:03:22.360]the linkage between Don Adams and Terry Profenstein,
[01:03:25.940]what inertia has been developed because of that linkage?
[01:03:31.838]That's, we need that linkage
[01:03:35.110]with somebody on the social side,
[01:03:36.830]or we need to bring them in.
[01:03:38.630]We don't have that right now.
[01:03:44.210]Unless there's work that I'm not aware of.
[01:03:46.020]Well, damn it, let's get it done!
[01:03:47.734](laughter)
[01:03:50.264]Come to the meeting in January.
[01:03:52.483](laughter)
[01:03:54.680]From my kind of outside perspective,
[01:03:56.680]I think that your picture of the vice-chancellor,
[01:03:59.407]out at branding, I'm impressed that he's bought in to
[01:04:04.610]beef being important in Nebraska,
[01:04:08.377]and that's a real plus.
[01:04:10.770]For a plant pathologist, because that's what he was.
[01:04:14.344]To buy into that is--
[01:04:16.320]You never know how things start.
[01:04:19.487]The Gudmundsens, years before that 1978 point,
[01:04:23.670]had started a small program of scholarship funding
[01:04:28.780]for Sandhills students.
[01:04:31.495]And it went on and on and they had
[01:04:33.160]a certain goal or the other,
[01:04:34.807]or I think that the university secretary helped them
[01:04:38.170]set a goal for how much money and that,
[01:04:40.210]so they could support a number of students.
[01:04:43.810]What was a reasonable down payment on tuition,
[01:04:47.590]which isn't now, but that's another story.
[01:04:50.285]Anyway, finally they were reaching
[01:04:52.670]the endpoint of this in '77 or '78.
[01:04:58.527]And so they came to campus to complete the last of that.
[01:05:03.800]And they sat down with
[01:05:05.215]the secretary of the foundation at that time
[01:05:10.090]and in the process, no children, and then they said,
[01:05:13.946]kind of absent-mindedly to the secretary,
[01:05:17.137]"Well, you know, we need to do something about that ranch."
[01:05:22.330]And so he excused himself
[01:05:24.370]and went to go talk to Witty Varner,
[01:05:27.070]who chancellor and now president of the foundation,
[01:05:31.860]and he tipped them off on that.
[01:05:33.850]And so Witty came in and his style was
[01:05:36.300]a little windy and quick,
[01:05:38.015]and he thanked him very sincerely.
[01:05:41.850]But kind of quickly, and he left, and he said,
[01:05:46.007]"Who is that guy?"
[01:05:47.520]Well, he's the head of the foundation.
[01:05:48.800]He says "I don't like him. I want to deal with you."
[01:05:51.320]That's on a Friday. On Monday morning,
[01:05:53.020]the staff at his meeting,
[01:05:54.367]and it finally came around to him, and he said
[01:05:56.607]"I knew what I was gonna have to say, tell the story."
[01:05:59.220]And he said, and Varner said
[01:06:01.357]"That's okay, none of us can deal with everybody."
[01:06:04.940]You stay with him, but by God, don't you lose that ranch!
[01:06:08.005](laughter)
[01:06:09.690]And he didn't.
[01:06:11.695]But he, in all fairness,
[01:06:14.800]that man stayed close to the Gudmundsens all along the way,
[01:06:18.850]wasn't pushy at all,
[01:06:20.380]he catered to them and so on,
[01:06:23.650]because he understood of the magnitude of the, yeah,
[01:06:28.396]so there you are, you never know.
[01:06:30.110]Like with the Wolfs,
[01:06:33.040]Jim Wolf attended when we had a recognition
[01:06:36.070]for some of the early donors
[01:06:38.500]to build the building on the ranch,
[01:06:42.565]which is now used as a dormitory.
[01:06:45.810]And leaving Jim's,
[01:06:48.196]we worked with Jim for a number of years before that.
[01:06:52.316]He came to Gudmundsen's, Fort Robinson and so on.
[01:06:58.040]As he was leaving, kind of absent-minded,
[01:06:59.910]he said "Well you know,
[01:07:01.310]"I want to make a testimentary gift to this ranch."
[01:07:05.840]And he did.
[01:07:07.680]So did his son.
[01:07:12.760]Well, I've enjoyed,
[01:07:14.130]I hope it wasn't too much history,
[01:07:16.730]but thanks for the opportunity to come and do the seminar
[01:07:20.330]and visit about what's happened
[01:07:22.917]and what can happen in the future.
[01:07:26.180]Thanks.
[01:07:27.177](applause)

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beef cattle and range systems
gudmundsen sandhills laboratory
jack whittier
range systems
unl animal science
unl animal science department seminars

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Impacts of 40 Years of the Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory on Beef Cattle and Range Systems

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