Bob was raised on a cattle ranch and wheat farm in northwestern Colorado, where he graduated from Meeker High School and soon thereafter married Nareen Philp.  He graduated from Colorado State University with B.S. (1968) and M.S (1970) Degrees in Animal Nutrition.  Dr. John Matsushima, his undergraduate advisor and graduate professor, was honored in the 2016 inaugural class of LOFN.  Bob continued his graduate studies at the University of Nebraska under the guidance of Dr. Don Clanton, earning a Ph.D. (1972) in Animal Nutrition.

After concluding his graduate studies, Dr. Lake served as Research Associate at the University of Nebraska North Platt Research Station, conducting an early dose-titration field study on monensin.  In 1973 Bob joined Hitch Enterprises, Guymon, Oklahoma, as Staff Nutritionist, a role in which he made immeasurable contributions over the next 42 years.  In a myriad of responsibilities while tending to 3 feedlots, 2 farms and a ranch, all the while serving 3 generations of the Hitch family, he developed remarkable expertise in numerous realms – 

• Identifying and adopting technologies to enhance performance

• Formulating feedlot rations and supplements 

• Leading feed departments on bunk management and feed delivery

• Advising feed mills on grain processing and quality control

• Managing all aspects of high-moisture corn (300 million bushels) and corn silage

• Limit feeding of high-energy rations for growing cattle

• Purchasing ingredients for rations and supplements

• Manufacturing pelleted supplements

Defined by his hands-on style and meticulous approach, Dr. Lake is a recognized authority on high-moisture corn, grain processing, bunk management and limit feeding, having authored scientific articles and lectured at U. S. and international symposia on these topics.  One nutritionist respectfully describes Bob as the “godfather” of feeding high-moisture corn, given his unparalleled knowledge of managing this feedstuff from farm to feed bunk.

Because his counsel is highly regarded on an array of subjects, and thus sought after by colleagues, he is appropriately described as a “consultant to consultants.”  He has had a profound impact as a catalyst and facilitator for many collaborative university research trials.  Bob is also greatly respected by technical and marketing teams throughout the cattle feeding industry, with whom he generously shares his wisdom.  Soft spoken, witty and unpretentious, his answers are always direct, honest and deliberate.  Integrity and loyalty are the abiding hallmarks of his career.  Anyone well acquainted with Bob will attest he is the consummate professional and a true gentleman.

Following Bob’s retirement in 2015, he and Nareen moved from Guymon to Fruita, Colorado, where he remains active as ever, keeping in close contact with daughter Heather and son Kirk, piloting his Cessna 182, gardening, working on family ranches, remodeling a ranch house, elk hunting and fly fishing.

Michael Galyean is currently the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Texas Tech University.  Mike received his B.S. in Agriculture from New Mexico State University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Animal Nutrition from Oklahoma State University.  He worked on the NMSU main campus in Las Cruces and at the Clayton Livestock Research Center from 1977 to 1996 and two years at West Texas A&M University before moving to Texas Tech as the Thornton Distinguished Chair in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences in 1998. During his career he developed an internationally recognized research program that focused on digestive physiology of grazing cattle, nutrition and management effects on the health of feeder calves, prediction of feed intake by cattle, and nutrition and management of feedlot cattle.  Mike has authored or coauthored over 250 referred journal articles and hundreds of other technical publications.  In 2011 he became Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech and in 2016 was promoted to Provost.   He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Animal Science (2002-05), President of ASAS (2007-08), and President of ARPAS (2013-14). Mike served on the committee that wrote the 1996 NRC Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle and chaired the subcommittee that wrote the 2016 Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle.  He received the ASAS-AFIA Ruminant Nutrition Research Award in 1999, the ASAS Animal Management Award in 2006, the ASAS Fellow Award in 2010, the ASAS Morrison Award in 2012, the AFIA New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition Award in 2013, Diplomate of  the American College of Animal Science in 2014, the Western Section of ASAS Distinguished Service Award in 2016, and was named an Advanced Degree Graduate of Distinction at OSU in 2002.  Mike and his wife Charlotte live in Lubbock and are proud parents of 3 sons and grandparents of 3 grandchildren.

Allen Trenkle earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Nebraska in 1956 and his master’s and doctorate degrees (in 1958 and 1960) from Iowa State (ISU).  After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, he joined ISU faculty in 1962 where he taught advanced classes in ruminant physiology and metabolism, protein requirements of finishing cattle, and ruminant nutrition both on campus and through the ISU distance education program.  He served as an astute advisor for many graduate students and published more than 200 refereed papers and research reports. 

His pioneering research forms the basis for much of our knowledge about the mechanism of action of estrogenic implants.  He also conducted corn co-product research with wet corn gluten feed.  His scientific curiosity and publications helped him become internationally recognized as an expert in factors regulating growth of ruminants, improving the composition of beef, efficiency of production of ruminants, and utilization of by-products of ethanol production.  His literature compilations and extensive discussions with graduate students and faculty established and validated many of the basic relationships behind the development of the widely used equations from ISU that describe ruminal nitrogen metabolism.  He served as a coauthor of the NRC publication concerning Nitrogen Metabolism of Ruminants in 1985.   Allen also played a pivotal role in the NRC Feedlot Committee as a steady, thoughtful, classical scientist that helped to guide that committee and its members for nearly 30 years.

Allen served as the ruminant nutrition section coordinator for the animal science department and was a member of the advisory board of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture starting in 1989, serving as the Center’s director in 2000.  Allen officially retired in 2007 but has continued to work with faculty and students at ISU.  

Allen has a unique ability to apply basic aspects of tissue growth and developmental biology to the practical aspects of growth and nutrition of feedlot cattle.  His recommendations regarding feedlot nutrition and cattle management helped support and grow the feedlot industry of the upper Midwest.  His quiet-spoken demeanor, his vast but diverse knowledge, and his quest for sustainable and environmentally friendly production and processing methods earned him the title of Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture at ISU in 1984, and he became a member of the ISU Animal Science Hall of Fame in 1994.  The deep respect of students, colleagues, livestock producers, lawmakers, and the beef industry worldwide truly make Allen Trenkle a Legend of Feedlot Nutrition.