Opening the Door - Roger Hunsley

Jarett C. Bies, AgBio Communications

Roger Hunsley

SDSU Distinguished Alumnus Dr. Roger Hunsley

The time for change in the beef industry had arrived, and Roger Hunsley was ready.

His graduation from South Dakota State University in 1959 with a degree in animal husbandry matched up with the beginnings of a new direction in the beef industry. At that time, with each growing season, steers had gotten smaller framed, slower growing, and, in many cases, fatter. However, after he completed his graduate studies at North Dakota State University and Iowa State University and began work at Purdue University in 1967, Hunsley was ready to help effect change.

“The timing was awfully good,” said Hunsley, a Pierre native. “We’d floundered around with inefficiency for too long. There was greater profit to be had.” And one key to improving efficiency and profitability was a different method of evaluating beef.

With the help of co-writers W. Malcolm Beeson and Julius Nordby, Hunsley said he tried to put the “input and guidance in place” into a publication that would help steer change. The result was the 1970 textbook Livestock Judging and Evaluation, and it became a touchstone for students learning competitive livestock evaluation. With its publication, Hunsley helped channel the beef industry onto a new path.

The modern steer: A future of change
“Every time I go to give lectures, someone still mentions that work,” Hunsley said of Livestock Judging and Evaluation.

“Someone suggested,” he said, ‘If you could open a door and look inside the animal.’” Hunsley opened that door. “Once you opened the beast, it was magnificent, because you could see the waste in the fatter animal,” he said. “As soon as we made the first cut, we really saw the necessity for change.”

Hunsley posited that a more-muscular animal would cut waste and make more money. Working with students and livestock producers, he pushed the issue past the skeptics.

“If you go back in history, lard and fat were parts of the economy, and that’s one reason no one said much about changing the animal,” said Hunsley. “That trend continued into the postwar period, but we carried the growth of cattle too far. There were 1,700-pound feedlot cattle. At some point, you have to realize you have reached the top of the bell curve.”

Cattlemen responded to the vision of those who, like Hunsley and his colleagues, saw the necessity for change. In addition, since he continued teaching and coaching, a growing number of younger students and cattlemen-to-be took his ideas back to the ranch and farm.

Worldwide educator
With his forward-thinking vision, Hunsley led not only American producers, but also cattleman worldwide. Visiting Australia and Canada, to name two of the many countries where he provided workshops, lectures, and professional consulting, he was able to bring his classroom gifts to bear.

Hunsley said the professional insight he provided showed up in the feedlots and pastures of Australia. “When I judged the National Angus Show in Australia in 1979, a great number of cattle owners toured me around and I couldn’t believe what I saw,” he said. “It was a replay of what was happening in the 1960s in the U.S. When I went back in 1987, it was amazing to see the changes, how the Australian cattle industry changed for the better.”

Kelly Bruns, SDSU Associate Professor of Animal and Range Sciences, said Hunsley’s foresight and approach make him noteworthy. “He was truly a great educator,” said Bruns. “To bring the changes he did to the industry is truly unique.”

For his dedication to agriculture and his service to education, Hunsley was among eight men and women who were honored as 2007 South Dakota State University Distinguished Alumni during a Sept. 28 banquet at SDSU.

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Opening the Door - Roger Hunsley