Each year, World Dairy Expo recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to advancing the dairy industry. Randy Shaver, dairy science professor emeritus at University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the 2019 WDE Industry Person of the Year. He will be recognized at WDE’s Dinner With the Stars Oct. 2 in the Exhibition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center.

“It’s an incredible award,” Shaver says. “I’m very humbled to win this award and receive this recognition from the industry. It means a lot. It’s the most significant award I have received.”

Shaver notes that many of his predecessors at UW-Madison have been honored with this award.

“It is humbling to receive this award and be on the same list with all of these great people,” he says. “World Dairy Expo is a showcase event. It is quite an honor to receive this award when so many industry leaders are in town — it makes it even more rewarding.”

Shaver grew up on a small Holstein dairy farm in western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. He attended Penn State University and received his bachelor’s degree in dairy and animal science.

“I originally planned to be a veterinarian,” he says. “It was really very challenging to be admitted to vet school, so I decided to go to University of Maryland to get my master’s degree in animal science. My adviser was Rich Erdman, who grew up on a dairy farm near Fort Atkinson, Wis. He suggested I get my Ph.D. at UW-Madison.

“It was an easy transition to come to Wisconsin from where I grew up. The lay of the land near Pittsburgh is similar to some areas of Wisconsin.”

After getting his doctorate in dairy nutrition at UW-Madison in 1986, Shaver worked in the pharmaceutical industry on bovine somatotropin research projects and then for Purina. In fall 1988, he returned to UW-Madison.

“A position came open at UW-Madison in the Dairy Science Department. I applied for it and was hired,” Shaver says. Before him, the position belonged to Jim Crowley, longtime WDE cattle superintendent.

Shaver says his focus at UW-Madison was in dairy cattle nutrition.

“I had a real interest in homegrown forages,” he says. “I was interested in starch — corn silage and corn grain. There had been a lot of work done on starch in beef cattle but not dairy. That’s where I tended to spend much of my time.”

Valuable research

Shaver conducted research projects on a variety of topics, including transition cow research, shredlage and snaplage, and chopping silage at different lengths.  He also trained graduate students, taught and advised undergraduate students, conducted research and outreach with various companies, and did a lot of traditional Extension work.

Shaver dedicated himself to translating complex nutrition research results into practical feeding recommendations for the dairy industry.

“I spoke at a lot of field days and local meetings, and we did a lot of webinars,” he says. “That’s been the fun part of my career — I had a lot of flexibility. I was involved with farmers, grad students, undergrad students and companies. It was fun to bring some problems from the farm back to the campus to work on. I also enjoyed working with my dairy science and Extension colleagues.”

Shaver served as president of the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists in 2009-10, president of the American College of Animal Sciences in 2012-14, and on the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin board of directors as an adviser in 2017-19.

Shaver continued as a dairy science professor at UW-Madison until this past April, when he retired after more than 30 years.

RECEIVING RECOGNITION: Randy Shaver (center) received the American Feed Industry Association-American Dairy Science Association Nutrition Research Award in 2014, while colleague Dave Combs was awarded the ADSA DuPont Pioneer Forage Award and colleague Laura Hernandez received the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Alfred Toepfer Faculty Fellow Award.

“I am still involved with industry consulting, and I hope to stay involved in the industry,” says Shaver, who is 60 years old. “I loved working with people. It was challenging and rewarding to work with farmers, the feeders on a farm, nutritionists, students and academic staff, and those who worked at Arlington [Research Station]. Those are the relationships I will remember. I enjoyed all of them. I enjoyed working with people in the industry and with farmers, in particular.

“I had some phenomenal university colleagues to work with, and I worked with some great people throughout the industry who helped me think about things differently. There is no better place to have a career in the dairy industry than in Wisconsin.”

Shaver says he has seen a lot of ups and downs in the dairy industry in 30 years, but he is optimistic about the future.

“I’m excited with the young faculty and the mix of older faculty who are teaching dairy science at UW-Madison,” he says. “We have such a strong dairy industry and ag industry, and I think the future is still really bright.”

Shaver says he and his wife, Sharon Brantmeier, a native of Sherwood, plan to continue living in Wisconsin. The couple has two daughters: Allison Haas, 24, is married and teaches in Rochester, Minn.; and Elizabeth Shaver, 21, is a student at University of Minnesota majoring in developmental psychology.