Released March 24, 2008

SALMON, Idaho -- The University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences is welcoming a new superintendent to its 1,100-acre Nancy M. Cummings Research, Extension and Education Center this month.

John B. Hall, an associate professor and Extension beef cattle specialist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, begins his new job today (March 24). A native of Pennsylvania, Hall holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal science from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in reproductive physiology from the University of Kentucky. At VPI, he conducted educational programs and applied research on nutrition-reproduction interactions, reproductive management and cow-calf production.

The Nancy M. Cummings Center, donated to the college in 2005 by the Auen Foundation, is dedicated to the study and teaching of sustainable, forage-based beef production and to providing educational opportunities for area youth and adults.

Noting that he expects it to become a “premier center” for Western beef production, Hall said he accepted the Cummings leadership position because “I’ve always liked the research station environment, which allows one to focus on research and Extension activities,” and because of the “commitment by the university, state legislators and ranchers of Idaho to make the center grow and flourish and be a resource that benefits the ranching community and the state.”

“Dr. Hall’s background and research interests are an excellent match for our vision of the center,” said Greg Bohach, associate dean and director of the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station. “He has outstanding support from the faculty and industry representatives, who look forward to working with him. He is coming to Idaho at a crucial time, when we are in the process of making a number of improvements at Cummings, including a new dormitory-conference center that is slated for completion in 2009.”

With its focus on reducing beef production costs through such strategies as forage management improvement, feed and reproductive efficiencies and grazing season extension, Hall believes the Nancy M. Cummings Center is well-positioned for the future. “Especially with these high fuel costs, harvesting forage and feeding it to cows is becoming increasingly expensive,” he said. “If we can create systems where cows can harvest feed on their own, that will decrease our production costs.”

With water availability another critical Western challenge, Hall said future research is likely to include improvements in irrigation efficiency. Enhancing the probability of conceiving female over male calves—one of his research interests—may become a Cummings priority as well.

“One of the strengths that the land-grant system brings is that it can engage in novel research and take production risks,” Hall said. “Once research results are meaningful and important, we can rapidly transmit them to producers through our Extension system. At the same time, the teaching end of the land-grant mission is critical so that the young people coming into the beef industry have current knowledge and tools to be competitive and successful.”

Hall began his career in 1984 as an area livestock agent for North Carolina State University and has since worked for Iowa State University as a county Extension education director and for the University of Minnesota-North Central Experiment Station as an assistant professor of beef management. In addition, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory of the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Miles City, Mont., where he investigated nutritional signals for the onset of puberty in cattle.

Hall and his wife, Beverly, have two sons: 17-year-old Wyatt and 15-year-old Matthew.

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http://news.ag.uidaho.edu:591/News/FMPro?-db=AgNews&-lay=generic&-format=story.htm&NewStoryID=945&-find

Contacts: John Hall, (208) 756-2749, jbhall@uidaho.edu

Marlene Fritz, (208) 364-6165, mfritz@uidaho.edu