Every year, the Colorado State University Seedstock Merchandising Team prepares to present their animals at the National Western Stock Show in Denver. It is the crown jewel event for the program, which breeds cattle specifically for genetic and breeding purposes.

A significant part of seedstock breeding involves maintaining and establishing breeding pedigree and establishing genetic merit that ranchers and farmers utilize in their herds.

The team is composed of nine students and is in its 48th year for the 2024-25 school year. The group’s main event each year is showcasing their cattle at the stock show.

“CSU has a long-standing history in the purebred cattle business,” said Samantha Cunningham, adviser for the Seedstock Merchandising Team and associate professor in the animal sciences department. “I have found dates as far back as the early 1900s, and as we’re standing on National Western grounds, I think it’s important to point out that the very first National Western in 1906 Colorado Agricultural College had a champion steered that year with a short barn steer. So CSU is no stranger to National Western nor are we a stranger to purebred beef cattle.”

A completely extracurricular activity, the Seedstock Merchandise Team spends significant time studying Angus and Hereford cattle to determine which genetic components are the best to carry in cow breeding.

“These students have worked weekends, early mornings (and) evenings,” Cunningham said. “They not only studied how to prepare those cattle, but they’re integrating all of their foundation courses from our animal sciences department, so they do a lot of the feeding and observing. They are studying the genetics through categories and EPDs and genomic profiles and then just learning strong, basic animal husbandry skills. … They’re also developing teamwork and leadership and communication and time management and strength of self.”

This year, the team displayed a pen of spring yearling Hereford heifers and a pen of yearling Hereford bulls from Jan. 12-19.

“As I’ve watched this particular group of students over the last several months, they’ve came together and built their own little family, and then through that, they truly have become a team to get this group of cattle ready for Denver,” Cunningham said.

Following exhibit at the stock show, the cattle are prepared for the Annual CSU Bull and Female Sale held Feb. 15 at the CSU Agricultural Research, Development and Education Center, where cattle samples are available to ranchers for purchase. This year, the event will be offered in conjunction with the Bob Taylor Beef Symposium, focusing on the history of the seedstock tradition and cattle industry. The event will also feature talks from Temple Grandin and John Matsushima.

Jhoany Juarez, a member of the Seedstock Merchandising Team, was introduced to the program during first semester of his first year at CSU.

“I just fell in love with it from the beginning,” Juarez said. “I came in with a little bit of knowledge, but just being on the team really helped me learn a lot more and really got me tied in with all the people in it. I was normally an Angus breeder and worked with Angus, and now I’m on the Hereford side, so it’s a different view, and it’s just something new.”

Hailing from Burlington, Colorado, Juarez, who became an official member of the team this year, had some agricultural experience coming in.

“Through the seed stock team, I learned so much about the whole show of the pen,” Juarez said. “Normally I only showed, like, in a normal drive, which is just you on your own, but this time, you had three animals to work with, all in one pen. And I don’t think I would have gotten that experience outside of CSU because it’s kind of hard to get an entire team that does that.”

At the stock show, Juarez said that a pen show consists of a group showing of the three best cattle for competition and judges to compare to other cattle. Prior to the event, students care for, exercise and feed the cattle to make sure they are prepared for the show.

“You don’t come across universities that will be raising bull for a pen or for (the) National Western Stock Show, even just for show — it’s really rare,” Juarez said. “There’s only two more colleges that do it, and it’s actually really interesting to see.”

Juarez said his favorite memory with the team has been the time spent in the barns caring for the animals.

“It really brings the country into the city because a lot of people don’t know what it is,” Juarez said. “And I think it allows for people to understand what we do, why we do it and why we want to do it. And it just — it’s an educational thing. I think it’s really good that CSU comes together and helps out because many people don’t know about the whole ag industry, and it’s a dying thing. And I hope (the) stock show continues to promote it as a valuable resource to our country.”

Closing out the 48th year, Cunningham hopes to continue the legacy of agriculture.

“It is not lost on me that this is a legacy of our university and our college and our department and, certainly in the last 48 years, Dr. Bob Taylor and others,” Cunningham said. “And this is also giving the opportunity for our students, who may not have a lot of agricultural background, a chance to expand, a chance to live and breathe and experience this piece of agriculture.”

Reach Allie Seibel at science@collegian.com or on Twitter @allie_seibel_.