CALF_News_August_September_2021

35 CALF News • August | September 2021 • www.calfnews.net TERRITORY MANAGERS Clyde Smith (MS) 601-540-613 Chad Holt (TX) 903-272-5010 Kyle Latham (TX) 254-715-2162 Gary West (TN) 731-335-3023 Jeff Anslinger (MO) 816-244-7340 Emily Bendish (ND) 701-471-3067 Bryan Sundsbak (SD) 605-209-0559 Molly Folot (NE) 970-218-1185 Logan Kennedy (MO) 417-592-1764 info@mlstubs.com MLS TUBS: YOUR MULTI - TOOL SUPPLEMENT SOLUTION(S) ● Consistent Consumption ● Key Supplemental Nutrition ● Improved Pasture & Forage Utilization in Drought Conditions ruminants and more than 50 other spe- cies. A June 15, 2021, obituary by Feed Strategy reported that human nutrition- ists and researchers adopted Van Soest’s fiber chemistry to study the effects of dietary fiber on gut health and obesity. The article also pointed out an addi- tional contribution – Van Soest’s Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System, a nutritional model used to formulate rations for more than 70 percent of dairy cattle in North America and more than 40 other countries. A Unique Life Van Soest’s personal life continued to be idiosyncratic through his adulthood. Described as more than 6 feet tall, long haired and slender, his signature cloth- ing was jeans and boots. “Singularly unconventional, passionate and absent minded,” his lectures at Cornell were fascinating and long. John Murray Elliot, Cornell Professor Emeritus, wrote of Van Soest’s total unawareness of time, his lectures running far past the normal class period. This made students tardy for their next commitment, to the consternation of the rest of the faculty. It was rumored that, at one time, his students gave him an alarm clock. His love of teaching led him to con- tinually accept invitations for lectures or consultations that led to “real challenges for department chairmen who some- times did not know in what part of the world Peter was at any given time.” Van Soest lectured literally all over the globe. In 1979 he testified at U.S. Senate hearings on overly optimistic nutritional statements by the commercial cereal industry, and the same year fed shred- ded Playboy magazines and Christian Science Monitors to his research animals to establish each publications’ exact nutritional value. His house was filled with classi- cal music instruments and scientific volumes. He loved cooking Indian dishes and playing the recorder, forming a quar- tet to play medieval music, and dabbling in musical composition. Van Soest was the recipient of many accolades, being recognized for his improvement of animal nutrition in several foreign countries as well as the United States. He continued to publish scientific papers until the age of 90, passing away March 21, 2021, at 91. He is survived by an ex-wife and three children. Many thanks go to the Peter J. Van Soest website and the Cornell Chronicle , Cornell University, for help with this article. 