Glen Lofgreen, 1910-2004

I have lived simply, I have laughed frequently, and I have loved deeply. What more can I ask?”

Glen Pher Lofgreen was born September 28, 1919, in St. David, Arizona. He was the tenth of 19 children. Growing up on a small farm, he loved sports, music, homemade ice cream and cattle. Following high school graduation in 1937, he enrolled in Animal Husbandry at the University of Arizona. After Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, he enlisted in the military, but in 1942 was given a medical discharge when he contracted rheumatic fever. Returning to St. David, Glen worked as a high school janitor and met June McRae. Their marriage in 1945 was blessed with seven children. When he died on October 14, 2004, he left 38 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.

Glen received his BS degree in Animal Husbandry at the University of Arizona in 1944. Shortly after their marriage, Glen and June moved to Ithaca, New York, for his graduate studies. Mentored by Jack Loosli, Glen investigated nitrogen metabolism and theoretical nitrogen requirements of sheep and cattle, receiving his MS and PhD degrees at Cornell University in 1946 and 1948, respectively. Glen started his teaching and research career at Montana State University during the winter of 1948. Quickly realizing a preference for the warmer climes of his youth, he joined the faculty of the University of California, serving on the Davis campus from 1948 to 1968 and subsequently at the University’s Desert Research and Extension Center in El Centro until he retired in 1977. Then, Glen joined New Mexico State University, serving for 13 years as superintendent of the newly inaugurated Clayton Livestock Research Center.

Throughout his career Glen was a prolific scientist, authoring or coauthoring more than 133 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He made substantial research contributions in the areas of energetics, protein and phosphorus nutrition, forage evaluation (particularly alfalfa) and nutritional management of shipping-stressed calves. Glen will be remembered by science and industry most for his innovative insights that led to development of the California Net Energy System, a more rational approach to feed energetics in cattle that ascribed two net energy values to each feedstuff, one for maintenance and one for gain. These observations transformed cattle energetics into a practical tool for evaluating and predicting growth that is employed in commercial feedlots around the world.

In addition to his research and teaching, Glen’s diverse professional service included serving as president of the Western Section - American Society for Animal Science (WS-ASAS); president of ASAS (1972-1973); National Research Council (NRC) subcommittee on Beef Cattle Nutrition; NRC subcommittee on Horse Nutrition; editorial board of the Journal of Animal Science; Director-at-Large of ASAS and Board of Directors of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology. He received the ASAS Feed Manufacturers Association Nutrition Research Award (1963), WS-ASAS Distinguished Service Award (1976) and the ASAS Animal Industry Service Award (1985).

In his personal life, Glen was a deeply religious and devoted family man, serving for many years as a Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Shying from accolades and formal titles, he desired to be thought of as “just a cowboy” and to be addressed as “Glen.”

 The reference Lofgreen 1963 didn’t appear in the mock newsletter you sent. Also, the initial quotation mark disappeared from the mock version.