Career cowboy

During an agronomy course in the 1970s, a professor at the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) introduced Dennis Byrne to the grand challenges that define our relationship with the natural world and the future of global agriculture.

"This was during the Vietnam War. I was up to be drafted - a lot was going on in the world," said Byrne, a UD Class of 1977 graduate. "My agronomy professor talked about population growth and how, eventually, we wouldn't be able to feed the world."

Byrne was studying pre-veterinary medicine while working on his father-in-law's dairy and crop farm. The lecture led Byrne to change his major to focus on feeding the world. He graduated from UD with a bachelor's degree in animal science and agriculture education.

Byrne, who retired in 2022 after serving as farm manager at Herr Angus Farms for 37 years, finds joy in giving back to the place that launched his career. In 1995, he helped start CANR's Angus cattle herd by facilitating the purchase of heifers and a donation of bull semen from Herr Angus Farms, a division of Herr Foods.

Now, 30 years after that initial donation, Byrne is again supporting the college by donating semen from a bull in his family's herd. The donation will help to improve the genetics of CANR's Angus herd.

"We've been using this bull for a couple of years now, and he's in the top 1% of the breed for both $B and $C," Byrne said, referring to the economic selection indexes used by the American Angus Association to estimate the genetic merit of cattle. "His calves are real stick-outs, so I can't wait to see them."