Lizzie Schafer of Taylorville FFA has completed five bovine research projects and has been inspired by the challenges she encountered on her family’s stock farm.
Lizzie Schafer’s journey to becoming a finalist for the Star in Agriscience started the moment she first saw the competition on stage.
“When I was 8 years old, I went to my first National FFA Convention, I saw those stars on the stage and said, ‘I’m going to be up there someday, I’m going to be one of those finalists,’” she said.
Now, 12 years later, Schafer’s passion for agriculture and hard work in the animal science field have earned her a spot on that stage this month at the 97th National FFA Convention.
Schafer has been involved in agriculture since day one, as her mother is the Taylorville FFA Advisor and her family also runs the Schafer Stock Farm in Illinois, but it wasn’t until she joined FFA in the eighth grade that she first discovered her passion for agricultural science. Since then, she has completed five bovine research projects focused on bovine reproduction and calf health, all of which have led to field success for cattle producers.
“My freshman year, I decided to team up with my brother and do a project comparing two different types of synchronization methods for recipient cattle for embryo transfer, and I kept expanding on that project every year through high school. Then I got into college and wanted to keep doing projects as well,” she said.
In both her freshman and sophomore years she earned first place in her divisions at the National FFA Agriscience Fair, and she was a national finalist in her junior year. Even though she had massive success competing with her projects, the true motivation behind her research was a desire to find solutions for everyday problems on the farm.
“Whenever I started doing these projects, I didn’t do it to compete in any of these competitions, I didn’t do it for national agriscience fair wins or even getting to this level that I’m at now being a start finalist over America; I did it because of the feedback and what these producers were wanting to know in their operations,” she said.
Schafer’s projects were inspired by challenges she encountered on her family’s stock farm, such as increasing successful embryo transfer pregnancies and the production of IVF calves. Her last project focused on the health of first-calf heifer calves, as these calves are typically less healthy than calves from aged heifers.
“We had a problem with respiratory illness and scours in first-calf heifer calves, so we decided that we needed to do something about it, as we had a high death loss,” she said.
Schafer’s research found that separating the aged cows and their calves from the first-calf heifers and then quickly separating the first-calf heifers from their calves significantly decreased respiratory illness and scours, also producing a zero percent death rate.
One of her biggest challenges throughout her projects was securing enough cattle to make her research statistically relevant, which was difficult working in rural Illinois.
“Just the demographics of where I was located and what I was able to acquire, being a high school student, it was really hard to be able to acquire the amount of cattle I needed for these projects,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Schafer was determined to find solutions to the problems around her, leading her to become the 2021 National FFA Proficiency Winner in Agriscience Research – Animal Systems as well as the 2022 Beef Production Placement Proficiency Winner. Schafer also excelled in other FFA events throughout her time in high school, earning state championships in both Creed Speaking and Prepared Public Speaking and competing with Taylorville FFA’s award-winning livestock judging team. The team placed third in the National FFA Team Livestock Judging competition in 2022 and also represented the United States twice at the Royal Highland Livestock Judging Contest in Edinburgh, Scotland.
With the 97th National FFA Convention just days away, Schafer is thrilled to be representing her chapter and state as a Star in Agriscience finalist.
“I’ve wanted it for a long time, and I’ve been working my whole FFA career to try and get the accolades I need to achieve this goal, so it means so much to me,” she said.
Looking back on her career as an FFA member, Schafer says she has gained so many skills and that her time in FFA has been essential in getting her to where she is today, as she pursues a double major in animal science and agricultural communications at Kansas State University.
“FFA taught me how to push myself outside of my comfort zone in acquiring new skills to be able to go to the next level, it helped me get to Kansas State University and really gave me the ability, the intelligence, and the integrity to get to this level,” she said.
Schafer thanks her parents, Aaron and Sue Schafer, grandparents Gayle and Mike Schafer, and mentors Julie Fugate, Jennifer Water, and Megan Beckmier for supporting her throughout her FFA career.
Kate Walker is a student at Georgia College and State University. Originally from Watkinsville, Georgia, she has a passion for writing and all things agriculture.
