Jason is a native of northern Virginia, where he developed a passion for beef cattle at an early age.  He received his B.S. with a focus in beef cattle management and M.S. with a focus in ruminant nutrition and feed manufacturing from West Virginia University, before spending 2 years a Ruminant Nutritionist and Biologist for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Medicated Feeds Team.  Jason then pursued his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech, where his research was focused toward better understanding the long-term implications of early nutritional management strategies on feed efficiency and marbling development of beef cattle.  Jason then spent 4 years as an Assistant Professor and Extension Beef Cattle Specialist for the University of Tennessee before moving to Amarillo, TX.

Although he feels that his formal training in beef cattle nutrition and production management were pivotal, he also feels that his first-hand experiences learned the hard way through developing and maintaining a small commercial cowherd with his family continue to play a pivotal role in his education.  As an Extension Beef Cattle Specialist for the Department of Animal Science and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, located in Amarillo, his efforts are focused toward developing and supporting educational programs that benefit beef cattle producers and other industry stakeholders.  Jason also works to conduct applied and demonstrational research in beef cattle nutrition in order to link fundamental discovery to application in the field, and answer production-relevant questions that would otherwise remain unanswered.

Jason’s professional memberships include the American Society of Animal Science, the Southern Section Extension Committee for the American Society of Animal Science, the Plains Nutrition Council, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.