The Meet Your Herdmates Sodcast

36 Ruaraidh Petre

Ruaraidh Petre (pronounced Rory Peter) Executive Director, Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. 

Ruaraidh is a Scot with a background in animal production, commercial farming and ranching. After time in farm management, he worked in India on dryland farming systems, followed by Pakistan and Afghanistan where he directed a veterinary training and support program. He then became involved in securing financial support for agricultural development in Africa, Asia and South America. In Southern Africa he directed a regional farmer support program, securing access to markets for small scale producers. He became involved in the formation of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef in 2010 and has had continuous involvement since then. He is now based in New Zealand with his wife and three sons.

Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef - https://grsbeef.org/

35 Dr. Eric Westman, MD

Dr. Eric Westman is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University. He is Board Certified in Obesity Medicine and Internal Medicine, and founded the Duke Keto Medicine Clinic in 2006 after 8 years of clinical research regarding low carbohydrate ketogenic diets. He is Past-President and Master Fellow of the Obesity Medicine Association and Fellow of The Obesity Society. He is an editor of the textbook: Obesity: Evaluation & Treatment Essentials, and author of the New York Times Bestseller “The New Atkins for a New You,” “Cholesterol Clarity,” and “Keto Clarity,” and “End Your Carb Confusion.” He is co-founder of Adapt Your Life (www.adaptyourlifeacademy.com), an education and product company based on low carbohydrate concepts.

34 Chad Ellis

Chad Ellis assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Agricultural Land Trust in March of 2020, leading the organization in its mission to conserve the Texas heritage of agricultural lands, wildlife habitats and natural resources. Prior to that, Ellis served as Industry Relations and Stewardship Manager at the Noble Research Institute (NRI) in Ardmore, Oklahoma, where he focused on the important role of stewardship in agriculture production for long-term sustainability in our country and created opportunities for the advancement of stewardship principles. He first came to NRI in 2012 as a pasture and range consultant, working directly with agricultural producers in the southern Oklahoma area. Previously, he spent 10 years working with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI), as regional rangeland management specialist for the 15 central states. Ellis also served as a district conservationist in Texas and state range conservationist in Florida.

 

Texas Agricultural Land Trust – https://www.txaglandtrust.org/

National Grazing Lands Coalition – https://www.grazinglands.org/

Noble Research Institute – https://www.noble.org/

California Farmland Trust - https://www.cafarmtrust.org/

33 Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

Georgia Ede, Nutritional Psychiatrist

Georgia Ede M.D. is a Harvard-trained, board-certified psychiatrist specializing in nutrition science, brain metabolism, and mental health. She has two decades of clinical experience including many years as a college psychiatrist and nutrition consultant at Smith College and Harvard University Health Services, where she was the first psychiatrist to offer nutrition-based approaches as an alternative to conventional care for students, faculty and staff. Her pre-medical experience includes seven years as a research assistant at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, the Institut für Diabetesforschung in Munich, and other academic laboratories in the fields of biochemistry, immunology and metabolism. 

Dr. Ede speaks internationally on dietary approaches to psychiatric disorders, the nutritional differences between plant and animal foods, Alzheimer’s prevention and management strategies, nutrition science, and public nutrition policy reform. Dr. Ede writes about food and the brain for Psychology Today, DietDoctor.com, and her own website DiagnosisDiet.com.

Through her virtual consultation practice, she uses nutrition and metabolic interventions to help people around the world address root causes of mental health conditions and reduce the need for psychiatric medications. To improve public access to nutritional and metabolic services, she recently launched a live, online, small-group clinician training program in ketogenic diets for mental health which has already been completed by dozens of health professionals in 14 countries.

Georgia Ede's website - https://www.diagnosisdiet.com/
"Little Shop of Horrors? The Risks and Benefits of Eating Plants" - https://youtu.be/YdRBFiBWQZQ
"Brainwashed — The Mainstreaming of Nutritional Mythology" - https://youtu.be/WbNDrcoRi8g
"The Real Game Changer" - https://youtu.be/rDcLr2nK_gs

32 Garry Lacefield, PhD

Dr. Lacefield is well known to folks in forage agriculture, especially in the Southeast US. Garry is a native of McHenry, Kentucky (Ohio County) and grew up on a crop-livestock farm in the Western Kentucky Coal Field Area. After graduation from high school, he entered the U.S. Army. He received his B.S. (1970) and M.S. (1971) degrees from Western Kentucky University with a major in Agriculture and Biology. He received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Missouri in 1974.

Dr. Lacefield joined the University of Kentucky staff in 1974 as Extension Forage Specialist. He retired from U.K. in March 2015 after a 41-year career. Garry has authored and co-authored over 300 extension publications, papers, articles and book chapters. He is co-author of the books "Southern Forages,” “The Wondergrass” and “Forages Quotes and Concept." Garry has received a number of professional and industry awards in recognition of his contributions to forage agriculture. 

University of Kentucky Forage Extension - http://forages.ca.uky.edu/

KY Forages on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/VTForages

“Southern Forages: Modern Concepts for Forage Crop Management” by D.M. Ball, C.S. Hoveland, and G.D. Lacefield. http://www.ipni.net/article/IPNI-3394 

“Forage Crop Pocket Guide” by D.M. Ball, C.S. Hoveland, and G.D. Lacefield. https://store.tfi.org/products/forage-crop-pocket-guide 

“Forage-Livestock Quotes and Concepts” Vol One, by D. M. Ball, G. D. Lacefield, V.G. Allen, C.S. Hoveland and J. H. Bouton. http://foragequotebook.com/  

“Forage-Livestock Quotes and Concepts” Vol Two, by D. M. Ball, G. D. Lacefield, V.G. Allen, C.S. Hoveland and J. H. Bouton. http://foragequotebook.com/ 

“The Wonder Grass: The Story of Tall Fescue in the United States” by D.M. Ball, G.D. Lacefield, and C.S. Hoveland. https://www.oregontallfescue.org/wondergrass/

31 Ray Archuleta

Ray Archuleta is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist with the Soil Science Society of America and has over 30 years experience as a Soil Conservationist, Water Quality Specialist, and Conservation Agronomist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). During his tenure with the NRCS Ray served in New Mexico, Missouri, Oregon, and North Carolina.

Ray received his AS degree in Livestock Science from Northern New Mexico College and a BS degree in Agricultural Biology plus 30 hours of graduate work in soil related courses from New Mexico State University. He served in the Peace Corps for two years in Guatemala as a Livestock Specialist.

After his retirement from the NRCS in 2017, Ray founded Soil Health Consultants, LLC, and Soil Health Academy, LLC, to teach Biomimicry strategies and Agroecology principles for improving soil function on a national scale. Ray also owns and operates a 150-acre farm near Seymour, Missouri that he operates along with his wife and family.

Slake test video - https://youtu.be/9_ItEhCrLoQ
Understanding Ag - https://understandingag.com/
Soil Health Academy - https://soilhealthacademy.grazecart.com/

30 Sara Place, PhD

Let's learn about sustainability in animal agriculture in general and ruminant animal agriculture in particular from one of the best sources, Dr. Sara Place.

Sara is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Elanco where she provides technical expertise on sustainability issues to customers and supports Elanco’s Healthy Purpose. Prior to Elanco, she was the senior director for sustainable beef production research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and an assistant professor in sustainable beef cattle systems at Oklahoma State University. She received her PhD in Animal Biology from the University of California, Davis, a BS in Animal Science from Cornell University, and an AAS in Agriculture Business from Morrisville State College.

Beef Research - https://www.beefresearch.org/
Beef sustainability - https://www.beefresearch.org/programs/beef-sustainability
CLEAR Center at UC Davis - https://clear.ucdavis.edu/
"Animal source foods in ethical, sustainable & healthy diets" A dynamic white paper (#ALEPH2020) - https://aleph-2020.blogspot.com/

29 Ben Neale

If you like ribeye steaks, then thank the folks like Ben Neale who produce them. Find out more about raising beef, especially in the Volunteer State. 

Often farmers come from families that have at least one person who was raised in commercial agriculture. But not Ben and Lauren Neale. Ben’s dad did have a small, hobby farm growing up, but was a full-time engineer by trade. Lauren didn’t step foot on a farm until she was in college. Their lack of traditional agriculture background is part of what makes this first-generation farming couple work.
 
While Ben didn’t grow up on a a commercial operation, he was still influenced by farmers – both in real life and pop culture. “The friends and relationships that had the most impact on my life were farmers. They clearly enjoyed what they did and I was always struck by their values and work ethic,” says Ben. “As a kid, we always had John Wayne movies on more than regular television. Everything I watched and everyone I was surrounded by just made me into someone who wanted to work with cattle.”

https://www.lighthillpremiummeats.com/

28 Brandon Smith, PhD

Another Pre-Med, I mean Animal Science professor!

Brandon Smith, PhD, a native of Slocomb, AL, received dual baccalaureate degrees in Animal Sciences and Agronomy & Soils from Auburn University in 2012. He attained a Master of Science in Animal Science (focusing in ruminant nutrition) in 2014 from the University of Arkansas and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Agronomy (focused in forages) in 2017 at Texas A&M University, achieving .

Brandon was hired to assume the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal Science and Veterinary Technology at Tarleton State University. His primary role is that of ruminant nutritionist, though he also aids the department in its Range and Ranch Management program and serves as the Department Statistician.

27 Dr. Ken Berry, MD