538 Oltjen

This interview is with James W. Oltjen. He came to UC Davis as an Animal Management Systems Specialist in Cooperative Extension in 1990 and retired in 2024. Jim was raised on a crop-livestock farm in Kansas. He received his BS and MS from Kansas State University and PhD from UC Davis. Prior to joining the Animal Science Department, he was on faculty at Oklahoma State University. 

Jim’s extension efforts include ruminant and natural resource modeling, feedlot performance prediction, and beef herd management. He collaborated with researchers in seven countries to improve growth and composition models. He is technical advisor to the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association and developed the California Beef Quality Assurance Program. Jim has been the Chair or Co-Chair of JAM, the Joint Annual Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association and the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS). He is a past-chair of the ASAS Publications Committee, and past president of ASAS.