By Chabella Guzman, PREEC Communications
With a passion for agriculture, Brock Ortner joined the Nebraska Extension Engagement Zone 1 team as the new Livestock Extension Educator for Sheridan County at the beginning of the year.
“My primary goal as a livestock systems educator is to be available to producers as a resource. Whether it is a question about ration formulation, annual forages, or transition planning, I will strive to provide them with research-based materials to assist them in their decision or connect them with another educator skilled in the area,” said Ortner.
Ortner studied animal science at Iowa State University as an undergraduate and graduate student. His master’s work focused on trace mineral supplementation, which he plans to bring to Nebraska producers. The supplemental landscape can be challenging and competitive. Ortner understands animal requirements, seasonal changes in vitamins and minerals in feedstuffs, and different sources of trace minerals in supplements, and he will help producers optimize their supplementation programs.
Ortner is originally from east central Iowa, where his family was involved in cow-calf, feedlot, and row cropping enterprises. “I am interested in animal breeding programs and genetics sourcing from raising seedstock in eastern Iowa. Particularly, examining the individual needs of the cowherd to determine how bulls may or may not fit into the environment of the ranch,” he said.
He has already been out and about in the four counties he covers: Box Butte, Dawes, Sheridan, and Sioux. Ortner would like to develop group meetings to reach a larger audience, make connections, and get a sense of producers’ needs to begin building relevant programming.
“I look forward to meeting producers where they are on their ranch or rangelands, discussing and evaluating cattle with them.”
To contact Ortner, email him at bortner2@unl.edu or call the Sheridan County office at 308-327-2312.