Jake Franke, Jeff Thayne, Garrett Parsons, Brandon Callis, Brandon Gunn, Cade Wilson, and Moriah Beyers. “I was truly blessed to have some incredible students placed in my life and I’m thankful for their friendships.” Good things come in three. After working for Cargill Animal Nutrition as a consultant following getting his Masters, Dr. Rathmann, along with his wife Kayla, moved to Lubbock to get his Ph.D. in Ruminant [Feedlot] Nutrition from Texas Tech. While at Tech, he began coaching the Livestock Judging Team. His first three teams all were National Champions [2007, 2008 and 2009]. To date, Dr. Rathmann is the most winningest coach in Collegiate Livestock Judging history with an unprecedented 9 National Championships (2011, 2015 & 2016 as well). Ryan has also coached 5 National Champion Meat Animal Evaluation Teams. Some of the students on these Tech teams included Jeff Berry, Dr. Bryan Bernhard, Marcus Arnold, Josh Campbell, Colton Long, Cade Halfmann, Drew Perez, Dr. Josh Flohr, Trae Simmons, Chance Neff, Josh Cribbs, Brady Ragland, Kody Lucherck, Dr. Clay Burson, Jordan Clem, Segayle Foster, Lane Halfmann, Nick Fitzsimmons, Austin Langemeier, Taylor Frank, Lane Hale, Dr. Colby Redifer, Laramie Priest, SyAnn Foster, Brody Halfmann, Ian and Chama
Schaefer, Braeton Kimble, Daniel Lujan and Conner Brew. Rathmann has served on faculty at Texas Tech as a beef cattle professor since 2009 and is the holder of the John W. and Doris Jones Endowed Professorship in the Department of Animal & Food Sciences. He teaches Animal Breeding and Genetics, Commercial Cow/Calf Management, Artificial Insemination, and multiple Livestock and Carcass Evaluation courses. He is responsible for overseeing the livestock judging program and the university’s beef unit. Additionally, he typically works with one to three graduate students on research. His diversified background allows him to tailor the research according to the students and their interest. They have conducted research related to beta- agonists in finishing cattle, confined cow-calf system management, early-weaning and calf receiving management, heifer development management and cull-cow reconditioning. One research project he is pretty fired up about is the one he is working on with the present Livestock Judging Coach and PhD student, Skyler Scotten. “We are seeking to bridge the gap between subjective evaluation based on conformation and hard data on maintenance energy, fleshing ability and cow longevity. We have
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