Graduate Research Assistant
New Mexico State University
My name is Mackenzie Smithyman, and I attend New Mexico State University, where I am a Ph.D. research graduate and teaching assistant in the animal and range science department. I earned a master's degree under the supervision of Dr. Vinicius Gouvea and Dr. Clint Loest in June 2022. My master's research focused on high-risk receiving calves and water intake following feedlot arrival. I spent the majority of my master's degree at the Clayton Livestock Research Center in Clayton, New Mexico, where I conducted my research and gained valuable feedlot experience. In August, I started my Ph.D. at New Mexico State University under the guidance of Dr. Glenn Duff, with the focus of my research involving the comparison of vaginal temperature and the DART scoring system of newly received feedlot heifers.