Speakers
Chris Baxter
Dr. Chris Baxter is a Professor of Soil and Crop Science and a statewide Soil Fertility/Nutrient Management Specialist for UW-Madison Division of Extension, based at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. His teaching and research interests include use of organic and byproduct nutrient sources in crop production, soil fertility evaluation, soil pollution/remediation, and evaluation of soil health.
A native of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, Dr. Baxter received his B.S. Degree in Soil and Crop Science and Reclamation from the UW-Platteville and M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Soil Chemistry from Purdue University. He joined the UW-Platteville faculty in 2003.
Brenda Boetel
Brenda Boetel’s teaching program and extension research provides leadership in educational programming for problems facing the livestock/meat and corn/soybean industries. She has a BA from Minnesota State University-Moorhead, a MS from University of Kentucky and a PhD from the University of Minnesota. She teaches classes at UWRF on price risk management, has authored articles on livestock issues and been interviewed by high impact outlets, including the US Farm Report.
Randie Culbertson
Randie Culbertson spent her childhood on her family’s cattle ranch in New Mexico. She received her B.S. in Animal Science at New Mexico State University and pursued her graduate degrees at Colorado State University, earning her M.S. and Ph. D. in Animal Breeding and Genetics. Upon completing her Ph. D. in 2019, she accepted a position as the lead geneticist with the American Simmental Association and International Genetic Solutions (IGS). In November 2022, Randie joined the faculty at Iowa State University as the Cow-Calf Extension Specialist and Beef Geneticist. In her role at Iowa, she works with the Iowa Beef Center to execute extension programing for cattle producers in addition to conducting applied research for beef cattle production.
Luiz Ferraretto
Dr. Luiz Ferraretto is from Brazil where he earned his B.S. in Animal Science from São Paulo State University in 2008. Immediately after the completion of his B.S. Degree, Luiz joined University of Wisconsin-Madison for an internship (2009) followed by a M.S. (2011) and Ph.D. (2015) in dairy science with focus on applied dairy nutrition and forage quality. After the completion of his Ph.D., Luiz joined The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute as a Post-doctoral Research Associate. From 2016 to 2020, he worked as Assistant Professor of Livestock Nutrition at University of Florida. Currently, Luiz is an Associate Professor and Ruminant Nutrition Extension Specialist in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his research interests are applied dairy cattle nutrition and management with emphasis on starch and fiber utilization by dairy cows, corn silage and high-moisture corn quality and digestibility, the use of alternative by-products as feed ingredients, and supplementation of feed additives to lactating cows.
Mark Hilton
W. Mark Hilton was born and raised on a swine and beef farm in south central Indiana. He earned a BS in Animal Science and a DVM from Purdue University. Hilton began his veterinary career in an 80% farm animal practice in DeWitt, Iowa. In practice, he developed “The Total Beef Herd Health Program”. This was a comprehensive, preventative medicine program where he consulted with beef cow-calf producers concerning nutrition, genetics, health, marketing, fertility, herd production/financial records, and environmental improvement. Dr. Hilton is board-certified by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in beef cattle practice and is also a Professional Animal Scientist. After 15 years in practice, Mark joined Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine as a clinical professor of beef production medicine and a food animal ambulatory clinician. After 18 years at Purdue, Hilton joined the beef technical consulting team at Elanco Animal Health and retired from Elanco in May 2023. Hilton co-authored the “Vet’s Opinion” column for BEEF magazine for 21 years. Mark has been the President of Midwest Beef Cattle Consultants, LLC., a consulting and beef genetics business, since 1990. Mark has been married to his wife, Denise, for 45 years. They have 2 sons, 2 daughters-in-law and 7 grandchildren.
Kellie Curry Raper
Kellie Curry Raper is Professor of Agricultural Economics and State Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist at Oklahoma State University. She is a native of southwest Oklahoma and joined the OSU faculty in 2007 after spending 9 years on faculty at Michigan State University. Kellie’s research focuses on the production and marketing interface along the beef supply chain from producer to consumer. Her Extension program communicates the economic impacts of management and marketing decisions at both the producer and industry levels.
Beth Reynolds
Beth grew up on a diversified farm in Northeast Colorado before receiving her B.S. in Animal Science at the University of Wyoming, and her M.S. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where her research focused on utilizing annual forages in beef cattle systems. She currently serves as the program specialist for the Iowa Beef Center, where she provides support to the regional extension specialists in addition to assisting with applied research projects. Her primary areas of interest are cow nutrition and forage management. Beth currently resides in Warren County, IA, where she also runs a cattle operation alongside her husband and three children.
Jack Smith
I’m a fifth generation farmer in the Bankston area of Dubuque County. Along with my wife Maria and sons Nick and Ted we run about 425 cows and feed our own calves. We’ve benefited environmentally from a simple program of cows, cover crops and no till. We are the 2025 winners of NCBA area three Environmental Stewardship Award.
Matt Spangler
Matt Spangler grew up on a diversified crop and livestock farm in Kansas. He received degrees from Kansas State University (BS), Iowa State University (MS), and the University of Georgia (PhD) and is currently a Professor of Animal Genetics and Extension Beef Genetics Specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). His research work focuses on quantitative genetics and genomics in livestock. As part of this effort he works closely with livestock industries, in particular beef, to implement improved genetic selection tools and methods.
Teresa Steckler
Teresa L. Steckler began her extension career in 2008 as a beef cow/calf beef specialist for University of Illinois. She has an M.S. and Ph.D in reproductive biology from the University of Illinois and completed a postdoctoral program with an emphasis in embryonic/fetal programming and infertility in livestock at the University of Michigan. She provides numerous programs across Illinois that include herd health management, forage and pasture management, and reproductive management. Her research program has studied the prevalence, economic impact and management of bovine anaplasmosis. Current research interests include understanding of the relationship between ticks and tick-borne diseases impacting humans (agricultural workers) and livestock (cattle and small ruminants) and the types of plants found in their shared environment (invasive plant species). Thus, the One Health paradigm as it relates to the interdependence among the health and wellbeing of people, animals, and our environment.
Aimee Wertz-Lutz
Aimee Wertz-Lutz is the Director of the Iowa Beef Center and state Extension feedlot specialist. In addition to her role in Beef Extension, she also has teaching and research appointments in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University. Aimee grew-up on a grain and livestock farm in central Illinois. She earned her BS in agriculture form Illinois State University and an MS and PHD in animal science from University of Illinois with a focus on feedlot nutrition. After graduate school, she was a research associate at Iowa State University working with Drs. Allen Trenkle and Donald Beitz. She continued as teaching and research professor faculty member in the Animal and Range Sciences Department at South Dakota State University where she taught animal nutrition courses and conducted research that focused on feed intake regulation, composition of gain, and by-product utilization. From her academic role, Aimee moved on to private industry as the Ruminant Nutrition Research Manager for ADM Animal Nutrition. More recently, Aimee worked as a Ruminant Nutritionist for Devenish Animal Nutrition, where she focused on product formulation, technical support and producer education. In July of 2025, Aimee joined the faculty of Iowa State University Department of Animal Science.