Sue Puffenbarger National Account Sales Manager Land O’Lakes Animal Milk Products Wirtz, Virginia

What education are you bringing with you to this position?
I earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science and a master’s in reproduction in dairy science, both from Virginia Tech.

Please describe your agricultural background.
I was raised with horses, but made the switch to cattle in college. While working in the dairy and equine nutrition labs in college, I was able to conduct extension work and research with educators in a variety of areas. I also worked on a dairy and participated in every research project I could.

What territory will you cover?
I cover the eastern half of the U.S., east of the Mississippi.

What are your new responsibilities?
As a national account sales manager, my responsibilities include maintaining, growing and supporting our milk replacer accounts. This includes providing my clients, and those they sell our product to, with updates regarding milk replacer technology, the latest research and product support. It’s so much more than making a sale; it’s about improving how we raise our replacements.

What previous positions have you held?
After graduate school, I went to work for Dr. David Beede at Michigan State University. I was his research assistant at the Kellogg Farm and Dairy near Kalamazoo, Michigan. I spent my time doing research on anionic salts and heifer growth in addition to helping with managing the HeatWatch system in the lactating herd.

After three years with MSU, I took a position as dairy extension agent and provided consulting and programming for the dairies in South Central Virginia. I also worked for Zoetis (was Pfizer at the time) in sales following my time with extension.

Today, I work with young animals only, including calves, lambs, kids and foals. It’s an exciting challenge and a learning experience every day. There are great strides that need to be made in how we raise baby calves. I’m looking forward to move producers along to a new level of management to feed those young animals to a higher plane of nutrition.

Who has made the biggest impact on your career?
Early in my career it was Dr. Ray Nebel, my major professor for my master’s degree. His enthusiasm for what he does and his ability to tell people honestly, and forthrightly, how things needed to be done, inspired me.

You always knew where Dr. Nebel stood on a topic. And he never hesitated to tell you if a particular program had no chance in Hades of actually getting done on the farm. I credit him with my enthusiasm for my career and he and my father both for my work ethic.

More recently in my career, Dr. Vic Cortese has had a significant impact on the way I look at health of animals. He makes immunology fun, and I am reminded daily how we need to maximize immune function to get the best out of these young animals to maximize their potential. The relationship between the immune system, nutrition and management is a significant one. Without his influence, I would have missed that piece of the puzzle.

How will you be of most help to producers in your region or area of expertise?
My experience across research, extension and veterinary medicine allows me to have a broader perspective to provide to my clients. It also allows me to look at all the options presented and find the good and bad within them, and I implement that approach every day because we know that what works on one farm, might not on another.

We need to remember that all options have possibilities and together, we’ll find the right option for that customer. I also bring a wide variety of resources, research and expertise that we can tap into to answer questions and brainstorm ideas.

I also recently participated in a hands-on training program conducted by Forster Technik (a major manufacturing company of computerized calf feeders) that focused on the technical details of operation and programming of feeding programs. I look forward to implementing this knowledge with my customers.

Why did you choose this company?
I was drawn to Land O’Lakes because of their dedication to research and doing what is best for the calf. Our company has a plethora of resources and knowledge, and we’re routinely doing research to improve our products, internally and externally with universities.

I like that with Land O’Lakes Animal Milk Products, you have real data to fall back on to prove a product is effective. We focus on education and improving management when it comes to calf care. I stand behind the credo, “Doing what is best for the calf,” which might not always be the easiest option, but worth it.

What goals would you like to accomplish while in this position?
I’ve realized that with the transfer of generations on farms, we’ve lost some knowledge base, and it’s one of my goals to help the next generation improve on what the previous generation did with calves.

I also want to improve relationships and encourage veterinarians, nutritionists and managers to work together. It takes a team of people to do a great job, and we need stronger teams to keep the dairy industry thriving. PD