Post Rock Extension District Welcomes New Livestock Agent

Barrett Simon, Livestock Agent

Barrett Simon, Livestock Agent

     Good morning Post Rock District! My name is Barrett Simon and I am serving as the new Livestock Production Agent for Jewell, Mitchell, Lincoln, Osborne, and Smith counties. I hail from Butler County, Kansas, which lies on the southern edge of the Flint Hills, where my family runs close to 200 commercial pairs and takes on additional groups of stocker cattle throughout the summer grazing season.

     Fortunately, I was able to stay close to home to begin my education where I was a member of the livestock judging team at Butler Community College. Since purple has always been in my blood, I continued on to K-State to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science. While in Manhattan, I competed as a member of the Reserve National Champion Livestock Judging team and the National Champion Meat Animal Evaluation team, earning multiple top 5 and top 10 finishes and being named the High Individual at the 2016 National Meat Animal Evaluation Contest. I graduated from K-State in May with my Animal Science degree and am excited to apply both my personal experiences and college education towards this new chapter.

     In my time off, I can typically be found in one of three places: surveying pastures and checking cows at my family’s ranch, looking into regional bull sales of varying breeds, or helping family and friends at the nearest competitive livestock show.

     I look forward to meeting all of you and continuing to build a strong relationship focused around production agriculture. Please don’t ever hesitate to contact me with comments or concerns relative to our industry, or even just to touch base. For those of you looking toward the county fair, remember, the final drive starts now! Exercise your steers, freshen up your barrows, and check the show box one more time—I’ll meet you at the fair!