Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** to provide hands-on learning…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** to provide hands-on learning opportunities for students at prairie view a & m university the creation of a beef cattle feedlot is being proposed that will guide students through the finishing stages of beef cattle, into harvesting and ending with meat quality analysis and interpretations. IT is documented that while there is in increase in the number of USDA job openings there are historically low numbers of workers from minority populations; especially in the meat science related jobs. If you ask students from these minority populations why they DON't pursue such jobs some may say they never experienced parts of agriculture due to growing up in suburban/city areas. Others may say they didn't feel that they had a sense of belonging in the field. To pique the interest of students creating such an experience will give them a glimpse of what this industry has to offer. Local community as well as prairie view a & m university will provide steers for the students and participating faculty to feed out to finishing. Students will care for the animals, learn about animal husbandry, feeding, management and the harvesting of these animals. Lastly, they will be able to determine if management practices led to positive outcomes or not, based on the output collected from the animals. This can be measured by looking at the growth of the animal, their feed intake, sickness (if any), and meat quality. Texas a & m students will also benefit as DR. Andy herring will conduct workshops in which his tamu students will also likely attend. Lastly to allow the community to participate they can attend workshops as well, they will receive reports on their donated cattle, and can OPT to have meat from their animals returned to them or donated to the university. The hope is that they will continue to donate a steer each cycle and that this enterprise will become self-sustaining through donations or sales of donated meat.