Montana State’s Steer-A-Year program seeks donations for 2026-27

BOZEMAN - The Steer-A-Year program in Montana State University's College of Agriculture will return for the 2026-27 academic year and is seeking donations of young cattle and feed.

Housed in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences, Steer-A-Year teaches students about the many aspects of raising cattle through a hands-on academic approach, while supplying locally raised beef to campus dining halls.

Students spend the year taking care of the calves, including feeding, performing health checks and managing steers, along with collecting data on feed efficiency and weight gain while studying livestock marketing.

"For students, getting hands-on learning opportunities is huge," said program adviser Hannah DelCurto-Wyffels.

"In the classroom, we talk about the things we're doing with those cattle, and then we're able to apply it directly out at the farm, which is only a mile or so from campus," she said. "The ability to do that on a day-to-day basis is pretty neat for our students, and those hands-on opportunities are only possible because producers donate and make it happen."

Steer-A-Year accepts financial support or donations of steers, feed and other supplies. Donated steers are housed at the Bozeman Agricultural Research and Teaching Farm, and at the end of the academic year, the cattle are sold to MSU Culinary Services. The meat is served in both of MSU's award-winning dining halls, Miller and Rendezvous, helping fulfill the university's commitment to using as many local ingredients as possible. Last year, Culinary Services purchased all 29 cattle raised by Steer-A-Year students.

Proceeds from sales go directly toward student activities, such as support of travel and other costs for student teams and clubs in the College of Agriculture. Steer-A-Year students also meet with commodity groups and industry professionals, allowing for additional networking and learning opportunities.

Annual awards are presented to the producer who donated the best initial feeder steer, as judged by the MSU livestock judging team, the steer with the top rate of gain, the steer with the best feed efficiency and the steer that produces the best carcass.

The benefits of the program are multi-faceted, supporting not only students, but the producers and community as well, said Delcurto-Wyffels. Cattle are fed using MSU's Vytelle GrowSafe system, which provides producers with information about individual feed intake and animal performance.

"Producers get to support the university and the next generation of agriculturalists and beef producers, and we hope that through this they get more information about their cattle - things like feed efficiency, individual animal performance, DNA records - that they likely wouldn't get otherwise if they didn't participate in the program," she said.

Calves should be weaned, castrated and dehorned before donation and should weigh between approximately 500 to 800 pounds. The ideal pickup period for calves is late October and early November. Those interested in donating steers or feed, providing financial support or learning more about the Steer-A-Year program can contact DelCurto-Wyffels at 406-994-3752 or [email protected].