David Bruene, beef teaching farm manager in animal science, is the recipient of the staff 2025 Outstanding Achievement Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. He is an expert in the beef industry and relates that information through teaching, research and outreach in the land-grant setting. He presents the best of the animal science beef farms to all stakeholders, including faculty, staff, students, visitors and industry.
The beef teaching farm strives for excellence in cattle production and hands-on teaching. The herd has both spring and fall calving programs. The cattle are used in 10 undergraduate classes, judging contests, Iowa Cattlemen Association events and competitions, ultrasound training and certification, artificial insemination schools, and other beef promotions and educational training purposes. Bruene interacts with more than 800 students in those undergraduate courses that use the farm. He also works with a variety of employees ranging from seasoned veterans of the farms to freshmen students just learning to work cattle.
Bruene is forward thinking in relating real world situations to the classroom. In cooperation with Brad Skaar, animal science, he developed the “heifer buy back” program as a hands-on class project for the senior level beef production class. Commercial heifers sired by Iowa State bulls are purchased from cow-calf producers at weaning. They are then developed and marketed as bred heifers the following fall. Students develop a business plan for the heifer development program including budgeting and nutrition evaluation. This class, along with the beef sales class, are cutting edge, giving students real life experiences in beef production and marketing. A colleague stated, “He works very hard to create hands-on learning opportunities for our students, and as such makes them so much more employable in the U.S. beef industry upon graduation.”
Bruene is an expert in herd management and the business of beef production and practices that allow for maximum use of the cattle and maximum return when marketed. He understands how to operate, maintain and repair a variety of farm machinery, and has become an industry-leading, nationally recognized expert on a variety of beef grazing systems and forage management techniques. These are all experiences he gives back to Iowa State stakeholders.
Bruene works to stay current with issues in the beef industry. He sits on the advisory board of the Iowa Beef Industry Council and was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to serve on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Board. He shares this unique and valuable experience with undergraduate students and extension audiences, developing and delivering lessons with clarity and skill.
A colleague stated, “I always introduce him as the most knowledgeable, skilled and effective beef cattle producer and business manager that I have ever met, and I mean every word of that introduction. He has tremendous expertise in beef cattle reproduction and calf management. In particular, he has become a national leader and expert in the field of grazing management and is in great demand as a consultant and speaker… He brings tremendous value to my classes and extension programs to which he readily contributes.”