West Texas A&M University (WT) has broken ground on a new US$15 million research feedlot complex, according to a report from the university.
The WTAMU Foundation Research Feedlot and the Paul F. and Virginia J. Engler Foundation Feedlot Education Facility will provide a state-of-the-art education for WT students, directly benefitting beef producers around the Panhandle, the state and the world. Support for the multimillion-dollar facility comes from a combination of individual donors and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Thanks to our generous donors and the steadfast partnership with the WTAMU Foundation, we are going to have a research feedlot designed for strengthening the fed-beef and related industries through research, innovation and education,” WT President Walter V. Wendler said. “This feedlot, coupled with the other facilities and disciplines, will serve as a hub for discovery — where science meets soil, where data meets hard work, and where students learn not only the how but the why behind feeding a nation.”
The combined facilities, which will be constructed southwest of the existing WT feedlot, is expected to include an educational center with a classroom and small auditorium; 90 10-head pens; 40 70-head pens; state-of-the-art technology for monitoring and feed manufacture and delivery; and a top-of-the-line animal-processing facility and feed mill.
The planned feedlot is part of a concerted effort to enhance educational opportunities in agriculture at WT through the Center for Advancing Food Animal Production in the Panhandle and through the Feedlot Research Group, which offers opportunities for applied research in animal health and epidemiology; environmental science; meat science; and ruminant nutrition and management.
Construction is expected to begin this winter on the education center and later in 2026 on the feedlot.
