CALF_News_Oct_Nov_2018

8 CALF News • October | November 2018 • www.calfnews.net Hawkins and his leadership in making the new ag complex a reality. “Dr. Hawkins was instrumental in the creation of this facility and securing the largest gift in the history of WTAMU [the Engler Foundation gift of $80 mil- lion]. Dr. Hawkins’ legacy will always be the part of WTAMU. He will always be in the hearts of faculty, staff and stu- dents he graciously served here.” Among the many WTAMU faith- ful attending the ceremonies was Bob Robinson, Ph.D., former director of the Texas A&MAgriLife Extension centers in Amarillo and Lubbock, and now a WTAMU professor emeritus. He holds degrees fromWTAMU, Texas Tech and Texas A&M, and spearhead much of the additional fundraising needed for the ag complex. “I’m extremely proud and extremely thankful for the many people who stepped up with generous donations,” Robinson told CALF News.“This is just bricks and mortar. It’s not going to change our culture. This college is very work-related with our students, which helps them get jobs on the other end. It also will allow us to serve a larger ag industry throughout the Panhandle and this part of the U.S.” He added that Ty Lawrence, Ph.D., WTAMU animal science professor, was named WTAMU’s first Engler Profes- sor.“He is a national world leader in meat science and he designed the meat lab. It is state of the art,” Robinson said. Texas Cattle Feeders Association was among various commodity and profes- sional organizations that promoted the new meat lab and overall ag complex. The lab will help support the WTAMU Feedlot Research program that services the area’s massive cattle feeding industry. David Lust, Ph.D., also a WTAMU animal science professor, said the meat lab includes a processing floor that can handle what would equal one truckload of cattle per day, or about 35 head. It can also handle sheep and pigs to help students learn the process. In anticipation of larger beef carcasses being harvested in the industry, Lust said the lab can handle up to a 1,500-pound carcass. With the utmost in meat safety in mind, the meat lab contains a cleaning cabinet that uses a pre-inversion wash. “Before a carcass is opened, it is washed with a cool steam to wash and cook the outside of carcass to kill bac- teria,” Lust said.“WTAMU is the only university in the U.S. to have this type of system.” The lab also has an advanced pro- cessed meat program and maintains a retail store from which students, faculty and the public can purchase various cuts of beef, pork and lamb. National Beef Carcass Research The lab also houses the WTAMU Beef Carcass Research Center, which since 1992, has provided a service that measures the data of beef carcasses for packers and processors across the nation. The data is widely used by producers, feeders and beef processors to help iden- tify quality in carcasses and ultimately live animals. The meat lab is named after its biggest donor, Caviness Beef Packers, Inc. Other regional agribusinesses have also been major contributors to the ag complex. Large and small classrooms are named after key donors. They include the Johnny and Jana Trotter Lecture Hall and a Micro Beef Technologies classroom. The ag multipurpose complex has some 150,000 square feet of lecture AG SCIENCES COMPLEX Continued from page 6 New WT ag complex salutes all industry in the Texas Panhandle. From left, TCFA CEO Ross Wilson, incoming WT Dean of Agriculture Dr. Kevin R. Pond and major supporter Johnny Trotter, Hereford, Texas, were among over 1,000 to attend the ribbon cutting. This pre-inversion wash cabinet helps make the WT meat lab state of the art in providing meat safety.