Agricultural News
Half of the 2022 OSU Alumni Distinguished Alum Awards Go to Ag Grads- One of the Three is Dr. Robert Walton
Mon, 05 Sep 2022 09:07:26 CDT
This coming Friday- the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association will honor six alumni of OSU with their 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award. This award recognize alumni who attain distinctive success in his or her chosen field or profession, perform outstanding service to their community or both. Service and contributions to the advancement of the university, the OSU Alumni Association or both may be considered.
The 2022 honorees will be recognized at a public reception Friday, September 9 inside the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center. All are welcome to attend, and registration is requested- click here to register.
The Ferguson College of Agriculture is well represented as three of the six honorees are from the College of Ag. One of the six is Dr. Robert Eugene Walton, who grew up in Shattuck, Oklahoma..
Dr. Robert Eugene Walton Sr. graduated from OSU (then Oklahoma A&M) in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in dairy science. He went on to receive his master’s degree in animal breeding and genetics from OSU in 1956 and his doctorate in animal breeding, genetics and statistics from Iowa State University.
During his time at OSU, Walton worked at the OSU Dairy Farm. He was elected as chancellor of Alpha Zeta, was a member of FarmHouse fraternity and competed on the dairy cattle judging team. Walton also attended Royal Agriculture College in Sweden as part of an exchange program.
Dr. Robert E. Walton served as president and general manager of American Breeders Service (ABS), De Forest, Wisconsin from 1967 until 1992 . Walton joined ABS in 1962 as a dairy geneticist. In 1965, he was named director of the marketing and breeding division. He was promoted to his current position in 1967. Prior to joining ABS, he was an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky and also while still in college he worked as estate manager for Westhide Farms, Hereford, England. At ABS, his original responsibility was to design and implement the first progeny-testing program for dairy cattle. This included the selection of sires and dams for 100 young sires each year. The program also included the sampling of young sires in 800 herds, representing 100,000 cows in 25 states. The final phase was the selection of the top 20 percent of the program graduates, based on genetic transmitting ability for higher levels of milk production.
Walton also developed the original ABS Program -Estimated Daughter Superiority System. Subsequently, in 1965 USDA adopted the same system. It was renamed Predicted difference and is used nationwide by the entire A.I. industry. Walton vigorously promoted the use of frozen semen as a means of making good genetic material available on a massive scale including remote areas where normal technician service was not economically feasible. This promotion led to the development of A.I. training schools and direct sales of semen to cattlemen and ranchers who breed their own cows. While at ABS, Walton was responsible for the design and implementation of the Genetic Mating Service (GMS). This professional computer application for commercial dairy herds determines and manages the specific genetic inputs for each herd. The ABS program grew to include the annual enrollment of more than 500,000 dairy cows.
Walton has earned many accolades throughout of his career. His most notable accomplishments include receiving the OSU Distinguished Animal Science Alumnus Award, founding director of Holstein Foundation, founding director of World Beef Expo, Distinguished Service Award from Wisconsin FFA, World Dairy Expo Industry Person of the Year, Distinguished Service Award from the American Dairy Science Association, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Cattleman's Association. Walton also received the Iowa State Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2022.
In 2021, Dr. Walton finished part one of this autobiography, View from the Bull's Eye.
Walton is a life member of the OSU Alumni Association.
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