University of Idaho Steer-A-Year Program

University of Idaho Steer-A-Year Program The Steer-A-Year program allows participants to donate a steer to the University of Idaho with the final proceeds going towards student scholarships.

The Steer-A-Year program allows participants to donate a steer to the University of Idaho with the final proceeds going to Animal Science and Athletics scholarships and beef research. Donated steers—usually 50 some a year—are also used in a variety of hands-on animal science courses and for 4-H and FFA judging contests. If you don’t own a steer, you can purchase one from the University of Idaho. Donors may designate how revenue from their steer is distributed. Donors are invited to an annual golf tournament and banquet in the fall. Accomplishments from 1998 to 2010 – Steer-A-Year Facts:
-49 steers donated in 2009-2010
-1,150 steers donated from 1998 to 2009
-More than 350 high school and college students benefited from the steers in educational activities on campus in 2010
-$534,700 generated (not including return on invested funds) from the sale of donated steers!

Last week and University of Idaho Steer-A-Year Program (SAY) hosted the annual Steer-A-Year Banquet. Participants enjo...
09/15/2026

Last week and University of Idaho Steer-A-Year Program (SAY) hosted the annual Steer-A-Year Banquet. Participants enjoyed lunch, golfing, facility tours dinner and an awards presentation right here on campus.

Thank you, donors, for helping make SAY possible each year!

University of Idaho

08/20/2026

T-minus 4 days till the first day of Fall 2026 semester starts. 📚

Do you know what that also means…
Our students employees come back!! Let’s take a look at what they have been up to over the summer. 🌞

Reagan spent her summer working at her family farm. As most of you know, farm life is never the same. Some days, Reagan would spend in a tractor, combine, and other machinery harvesting the farms wheat, grass seed, alfalfa, peas, and onions. Other days she spent behind a computer doing social media work and updating the farms website!

Sammy this summer worked as a sales associate for Tecovas, where she got to sell and brand boots. Sammy also hit the road up to Canada and explored all of Calgary and Banff. Sammy is about to start her final semester at U of I!

Katelyn took on an internship with Montana State University Extension in the Glacier County office. Her day-to-day work consisted of working alongside extension agents whether that was working directly with producers, teaching different programs or doing work with 4-H. When Katelyn wasn’t at Extension, she was helping out her family’s cow calf operation, working cows or putting up hay!

Alli spent her summer in the Palouse working at Colfax Golf Course in the pro shop and bartending. Alongside her work at the golf course, Alli maintained the SAY social media and went on a lot of adventures with her dog, soaking up every last bit of summer!

Nathan also spent his summer locally, working as a seasonal worker in the parks department for the City of Pullman. His days consisted of mowing, w**d eating, repairing machinery, and on the occasion working at community events. Nathan is also about to start his final semester at U of I!

We cannot wait to introduce the barn to new students, build upon prior knowledge of returning students, and all-in-all help shape the future generations.

EAT BEEF 🥩

08/18/2026

A short Terminology Tuesday brought to you by one of our student workers, Nathan!

This week’s term defined what pulling cattle means 🌡️🐂

On large feedlots, there are cowboys that go around all day long checking and pulling cattle that look off to them. This process is crucial to make sure we as producers are giving our animals the help they need, if they need help at all. With pulling cattle, the amount of times it has to get pulled and/or “doctored” is tracked and monitored carefully. An animal administered antibiotics will never be shipped for harvest while in a withdrawal period. We at SAY majority of the time will send an animal we pulled and treated back into their home pen due to cattle will recover better in their home pen due to low stress and normalcy for them.

Let us know if there are any terms that you have always wanted to know and understand more within a feedlot or general agriculture sense!

EAT BEEF 🥩

08/04/2026

Terminology Tuesday brought to you by two of our student workers, Alli and Nathan!

This week’s terms define what a bunk call , slick bunk, and finish ration is! 🌾📞🐮

A bunk call is an assessment of the feed bunk for each pen, in order to decide how much feed the feeders need to put in the bunk that day. At SAY, our student workers make this judgment of how much feed is in the bunk in the morning before feeding, mid-day, and in the evening before their second feeding. Our manager takes this information and decides if the steers need to receive more ration or less ration in their bunk dependent on the bunk call for that day and the days before.

In many cases as the steers grow and eat more feed, their bunks may be “slick.” Meaning there is little to no feed left in the feed bunk. The bunk call will then reflect that. Since that pen had little to no feed left in their bunk, they are ready and (in a perfect world) should be able to eat more poundage of feed that is delivered to their bunk.

A finish or finishing ration in cattle is given to them during their final phase of growth before going to harvest. This diet contains roughly 70-90% of concentrates like corn and/or wheat, 10-30% roughages like silage, grass hay, and/or straw, and other ingredients like an ionophore, minerals, vitamins, and a source of more protein. The main purpose of a finish ration is to grow fat deposition in forms of marbling and signature places that show us the cattle are finished. This is not a ration that you would feed to calves that were just weaned due to this is a ration targeting fat deposition and finalizing growth, not to go into muscle and bone growth.

Let us know if there are any terms that you have always wanted to know and understand more within a feedlot or general agriculture sense!

EAT BEEF 🥩

07/21/2026

Another week of Feedlot Terminology brought to you by two of our student workers, Alli and Nathan!

This week’s terms explain what a Hot Ration is and Ionophores 🌾🫀🌽

If you are ever on a feedlot and a producer says that the ration is “too hot” they are referring to the ration has too much rapidly fermenting energy/starch components like corn, wheat, barley, etc. Cattle producers feed “hot” rations to provide a lot of energy to promote growth, weight gain in the animals, improve feed efficiency, and more factors.

Feeding ionophores like Rumensin (or also known as Monensin) helps manage some of the risks associated with a hot ration as long as the ration is still properly formulated. Ionophores help reduce methane production, improve feed efficiency, and reduce the risk of digestive disorders.

Let us know if there are any terms that you have always wanted to know and understand more within a feedlot or general agriculture sense!

EAT BEEF 🥩

07/14/2026

This week we will be starting a new segment brought to you by our student workers, Alli and Nathan, explaining feedlot terminology!

This week’s terms are Steer and Stocking Density. 🐮🛻

Most commonly people refer and mix up cows, steers, heifers and bulls. The difference between all four of these terms are very important. Steers are castrated at a young age in order to produce high quality meat that does not have the taste and quality altered due to the testosterone that would be present if they still had their testicles. At SAY, we typically only have steers donated to us. But we have been very blessed to feed out a few heifers in the last couple of years.

Stocking density has a plethora of meanings that all depend on what it is referring to. In this case, we are referring to the stocking density of cattle/ animals on a trailer. But there is stocking density to be accounted for when we figure out how many steers the facility can hold, how many should go into each pen, how many can fit in our snake and tub, etc.

Let us know if there are any terms that you have always wanted to know and understand more within a feedlot or general agriculture sense!

EAT BEEF 🥩

07/14/2026

Welcome to the west side of campus: the Beef Center and Steer-A-Year feedlot. 🐮

On this end of campus, you'll find both Charolais cattle grazing in the field and a variety of breeds being fed at the feedlot. The managers in charge are Makayla Harrison and Elisha Johnson.

Although these facilities can seem like hidden gems, they've been a longstanding part of the university. Beef cattle research began at U of I in 1892 when the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station was established and Steer-A-Year dates back to 1988. The iconic white barns have been part of the university skyline since 1919. Despite the programs having many similarities such as both raising beef cattle, providing research opportunities across campus, hosting local 4-H and FFA activities and providing hands-on experiences to student employees, they also differ in many ways.

The Beef Center has a focus of breeding and raising purebred Charolais cattle. The center manages a breeding herd of 50 mature cows used for research, cattle experience, and courses within the Department of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences. The cattle raised at the Beef Center are sold and marketed as breeding bulls and heifers to beef cattle producers across the northwest. Students also exhibit the Charolais cattle through the Block and Bridle Club. In total, the facility consists of about 200 acres, 120 acres of which are pasture ground. The primary hands-on experiences for students includes cattle breeding, feeding and nutrition, handling, vaccinations, branding, calving and cattle marketing.

Steer-A-Year shows a different side of the cattle industry with feedlot practices. The cattle are fed-out over an eight month time period. While many students and community members glean hands-on experiences from cattle at Steer-A-Year, the program reach is much different. This starts from the cattle's first moments as they are born elsewhere then donated to the program. Those donating steers can include producers or general public that purchase cattle on behalf of the program through the Nancy M. Cummings Research, Extension and Education Center. The cattle are then fed a finishing diet and sold when they reach market weight. Over that time, the program is evaluating the performance of each steer to later award producers within categories including Average Daily Gain, Carcass Cutability, Lean Gain per Day and Most Valuable Steer. CALS students are involved in every step of the day-to-day operation to learn how a small-scale feed-lot is run. The cherry on top - all revenue funds go directly to programs including student scholarships, beef industry research and Vandal Athletics.

Of course, we can't celebrate the success of the programs, especially on National Cow Appreciation Day, without recognizing the incredible animals that make this all happen. We'll be sure to give them an extra scratch or two today.

Here's to many more years of advancing beef in Idaho. 🥩

Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸250 years later, America’s farmers and ranchers are still feeding the nation. Although farming...
07/04/2026

Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸

250 years later, America’s farmers and ranchers are still feeding the nation. Although farming and ranching may look different compared to 1776, the passion and grit for agriculture is still the same. ❤️

Eat some steak, hamburger, brisket, and so much more to celebrate America! 🥩

06/27/2026

Don't forget the next meeting in our Livestock Evaluation Series is Thursday, July 2, at 6PM at the Latah County Fair and Events Center. Come learn how to evaluate sheep and goats this week!
*These meetings are open to all 4-H and FFA youth and adults in Latah and surrounding counties.

06/25/2026

Your cattle fact for the day brought to you by our lovely vet, Dr. Christensen! 🩺🐮

Did you know about this fact?! 🥔

EAT BEEF 🥩 University of Idaho

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Moscow, ID
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