Veronica Shaeffer, AES Rhoden Field Laboratory Farm Manager, (2016–)
By Kristy Trammell
Background:
Originally from Paso Robles, California, Veronica Shaeffer attended Butte College Welding School where she gained welding skills before attending ACU. Shaeffer began working at the Rhoden Field Laboratory (more commonly referred to as “the farm”) as a student worker in the summer of 2014 and then graduated from ACU in December of 2016. Shaeffer then took on the manager position full time while also finishing the last few classes of her Bachelor’s Degree of Animal Science: Livestock Management and Production here at ACU. With her welding skills, previous work experience at the farm, and strong work ethic, Shaeffer has excelled at her role as the farm manager.
Rangeland Improvement:
Shaeffer has plans for improvement of the Rhoden Farm’s rangeland that she has already begun. “My goal is to slowly get rid of the mesquite trees and to prevent overgrazing,” said Shaeffer.
Shaeffer participating in a prescribed burn earlier in the semester.
Control of mesquite trees and prickly pear cactus is being accomplished through Shaeffer’s controlled burn plan that she will implement given the assistance provided by adjunct professor Billy Kniffen and the NRCS.
Kleingrass areas will be split up into six sections that will be burned over the course of six years. The first section was burned in February of 2017 and will be rested from any grazing for a full year. The next step of the plan will be to burn the second section in February of 2018. Each section will be burned and rested for a full year.
In addition, Shaeffer has planted native grasses in other areas of the rangeland.
Facility Improvement:
In her short time as the farm manager, Shaeffer has made tremendous improvements to the facility and equipment at the farm. Two buildings located at the feedlot were cleaned out, received a fresh coat of paint, and renovated into tack rooms. The horse barn and the tack room located at the headquarters were also cleaned up and received a fresh coat of paint. Shaeffer has also renovated and painted the chicken coop in preparation to house a new flock of laying hens. Shaeffer and her team of student workers have been cleaning the grounds and working on overall appearance. Even more improvements are in Shaeffer’s plans for the farm as well. She intends to continue working to clean up the feedlot and renovate the pens and other equipment for boarding more horses–boarding that is available to all students at ACU. Shaeffer said her intention for the horse boarding program is to raise money for the department and “to be able to make income for the farm that will benefit the AES projects and new projects at the farm.”
Livestock Improvement:
Shaeffer is making strides to improve the livestock at the farm to provide students with an enhanced learning experience. Shaeffer has modified the cattle herd by selling the Corrientes cattle to more efficiently manage grazing and to prevent overgrazing.
Shaeffer assisted AES students in a research project dealing with birth weights of calves.
With her primary focus now on the on Angus herd, Shaeffer and Kniffen will be using artificial insemination this summer to begin incorporating Lowline Angus. This line of Angus is more compact and appropriate for the size of the grazing pastures available at the farm.
Shaeffer will be attending artificial insemination school in September at Texas A&M University to be able to continue genetic improvement of the herd.
Shaeffer said her hopes are to keep detailed records of the herd that can be used by students in classes such as Animal Breeding. Shaeffer said she believes that by providing students with data from the cattle herd at the Rhoden Farm, they will have a more tangible learning tool that will benefit and improve their learning experience.
Work with the Students:
Shaeffer teaches the four Horse and Horsemanship labs at the farm. Shaeffer said many girls contacted her with interest in starting a Horse Team program. Attempts were made in the past to start a similar program, but nothing had succeeded until Shaeffer decided to form a group of girls who showed interest to join the newly founded Horse Team and compete in play days with the Taylor County Sheriff Posse Riding Club. In just a few short months, the ten team members of the Horse Club have participated in two play days and even performed a flag routine at the ACU Intramural Rodeo. Shaeffer said, “The Horse Team has been extremely rewarding to be able to utilize the lab horses and to fuel the passion of riding and horsemanship in the girls.” Shaeffer also added, “Another rewarding thing is to be able to see where my student workers have improved and learned so much and being able to see where they started from and how far they have come.”
The ACU Horse Team poses after their first play day at the Taylor County Sheriff’s Posse Riding Club
Students, Staff, and Alumni are Always Welcome!
“Volunteer as much as you want. There are always things to do and to get done out here, and each one of those things is a good learning experience,” said Shaeffer. In addition, she is open to hearing about/helping AES students with research or coming up with research ideas for the farm. Shaeffer strongly encourages students to become involved at the farm and if interested to email her at vrs13b@acu.edu.
Shaeffer and the entire AES Department are excited to also extend the warmest of welcomes to the AES alumni to come and visit the farm at any time.