Rebuilding the Beef Herd

Dr. Ron Gill is professor and Extension livestock specialist for Texas AgriLife Extension and also serves as Associate Department Head and Program Leader for Extension animal science faculty. He provides leadership in Extension programming related to animal well-being, stockmanship and low-stress livestock handling and assists in providing leadership to statewide efforts in Beef Safety and Quality Assurance programming. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Angelo State University in San Angelo, TX and his doctorate from Texas A&M University. Dr. Gill has worked for Texas AgriLife Extension for 28 years as a livestock specialist.

Dr. John C. Wenzel is a New Mexico native, born and raised in Albuquerque's south valley. He attended New Mexico State University and graduated with a BS degree in Agriculture in 1982. He attended Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine and graduated in 1986 and then joined a mixed practice in the Albuquerque area. In 1987, Dr. Wenzel moved to the Silver City, NM area and joined a rural mixed animal practice as an associate veterinarian and purchased the practice in 1991.

Dr. Wenzel's professional career has concentrated on cow/ calf medicine and preventative health programs for livestock producers in southwest New Mexico. In 2006, he joined the faculty at NMSU in the Department of Extension Animal Sciences and Natural Resources as the state's first Extension Veterinarian. He is the state coordinator for the NM-ALIRT (Ag/ Livestock Emergency Response Team) and the NM Beef Quality Assurance programs. Dr. Wenzel is also on the NM Veterinary Medical Examining Board, the Veterinary Advisory Council of the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education, the Veterinary Advisory Committee for the Central NM Community College Veterinary Technician Program, the Advisory Committee for the NM Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, the Academy of Veterinary Consultants and the Western States Livestock Health Association. He has also developed the New Mexico Rural Veterinary Practice Relief Program, a collaborative effort between New Mexico and Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine to send qualified rural students to the Veterinary college with an agreement to return to NM and practice in a rural setting.

Dr. Manny Encinias is presently the Extension Beef Cattle Specialist with New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service based out of the Clayton Livestock Research Center. Dr. Encinias has been with NMSU since 2002 since returning to New Mexico from North Dakota, where he attended graduate school at North Dakota State University in Fargo.

As a range beef cattle nutritionist, Dr. Encinias has focused most of his research efforts in three major areas: 1) developing supplementation programs to minimize locoweed poisoning in pregnant beef females, 2) evaluating the use of fire, strategic supplement placement, and herding to improve grazing distribution on native rangelands, and 3) cost effective ionophore supplementation for weaned calves. Dr. Encinias' producer outreach efforts emphasize management practices to improve the quality, reputation, and marketability of NM calves. Since 2006, Dr. Encinias has been the Director of Operations for the New Mexico Beef Cattle Performance Association and manages two annual performance tests for registered yearling bulls: the 50 year old Tucumcari Bull Test in Tucumcari, NM and also the TOP OF THE VALLE high altitude, forage gain test at the Valles Caldera National Preserve in northcentral New Mexico.