Ron Hays talks with Alexis Main on the sidelines of the DairyMAX Cow to Cone Homemade Ice Cream Contest
OSU Grad Student Alexis Main is a California transplant- having come from Modesto, California to finish her undergraduate degree in Animal Sciences at Oklahoma State- and then staying to work on a PHD in Stillwater as well. She’s actually involved in a program has allowed her to go straight to work on a doctorate and is now closing in on that degree.
We caught up with the OSU Grad Student after we judged the DairyMAX Cow to Cone Homemade Ice Cream Contest this past Sunday at the State Fair of Oklahoma.
In today’s Beef Buzz- Alexis tells Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays about what has led her to this choice of engaging in pursuing a doctorate emphasizing animal welfare. “I interned with the Animal Ag Alliance and did their College Aggies Online program and that really helped me build my passion for advocating for animal agriculture and just sharing information with people- you don’t realize how many people don’t know why we do what we do- what practices we do and the science behind it- and so after that and few classes that I had taken- it just fell into my lap and I really loved it.”
She is doing two studies within her PHD work- one on swine and one on beef cattle. She explains her hopes for the outcome of her PHD work- “with animal welfare, it’s really bringing in the reproduction, the nutrition, the genetics and how all those are interacting with the environment and how you can improve that environment to improve their performances.”
She is a big believer in telling the story of animal agriculture, saying it is important for the industry to be transparent as possible with the consumer- “It’s very important. Especially coming from California, we have seen in Prop 2 and Prop 12 that if consumers don’t understand what they are really voting for- it sounds good but they don’t know the repercussions of that and what the actual impact is.”
Main adds that many of the animal husbandry practices that may be criticized by animal rights groups are actually the right way to handle an animal. “There’s a reason behind them and it’s usually animal welfare. We’ve done studies where an animal’s stress is lower in this environment versus another one so we are just optimizing our handling practices- it’s really important for consumers to understand that (and for me to understand that as a consumer) as it will drive food buying decisions.”
Alexis Main is on track to finish her graduate studies in the spring of 2025- and hopes to find a position where she can interact with livestock producers and also help tell their story to the public.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
