From genetics to feed and management, everything the beef industry works toward comes together in the feedyard. 

Students in the University of Nebraska—Lincoln’s Timmerman Feedyard Management Internship see how all those things interact and ultimately produce the beef that feeds millions.

The Timmerman Feedyard Management Internship started in 1988 and gives several undergraduate students, or recently graduated students, the opportunity to learn from UNL faculty, along with hands-on experience at some of the most progressive feedyards in the country, said UNL Professor of Animal Nutrition Dr. Jim MacDonald. Students don’t have to be enrolled at UNL to apply for the internship.

Sawyer Starrett, Timmerman Feedyard Internship alumnus, is originally from Indiana, but came to UNL for this program. “Eventually I’d like to have my own operation,” he said. “But working in a feedyard is definitely a place where you’re going to get a lot of hands-on experience and a lot of that knowledge. So coming here and working in a feedlot has helped me grow as a person and as a cattleman.” 

The internship starts in May and ends in December. It includes six weeks of on-campus seminar at UNL’s East Campus, five months on location at a feedyard, and two more weeks of seminar on campus to report back and integrate what they learned during the experience with what they studied before. 

“The Feedyard Management Internship gives students intensive broad-based exposure to all areas of the feedyard,” said Jeff Rudolph, Hi-Gain Feedyard, Inc. manager. “We structure the students’ time with us with the idea of giving them experience in every department. We participate in the internship to have access to bright young individuals who learn rapidly, and who will stay with us or will become long-term contacts in the industry.”

Applications for the paid internship are due Monday, March 4. There is no direct cost to the students to participate in the internship, and tuition is paid by the Nebraska Cattlemen and the Timmerman Endowment Fund. Pay during the feedyard phase of the internship is agreed upon by the student and the yard in which they are placed. For more information go to www.go.unl.edu/2024feedyardinternship.