Gratiot County hires new swine Extension educator
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EmailMichigan State University Extension is excited to welcome, Casey Zangaro, to the Gratiot County MSU Extension Office
The Gratiot County Michigan State University Extension Office is pleased to welcome its newest Extension Educator, Casey Zangaro! Zangaro grew up in Fairview, Kansas where she lived on a cow-calf feedlot and row crop operation for most of her life. Since she was five years old, Zangaro has been riding horses in speed events, mainly barrel racing. She was involved in a local Fairview 4-H club for ten years and a member of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) through her high school, Sabetha High School, all four years. While in FFA, Zangaro held the officer positions of Secretary (one year) and Vice President (two years) and graduated in 2011.
After high school, Zangaro attended Northwest Missouri State University (NWMSU) where she obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in Animal Science in 2015. During her undergraduate career, Zangaro was a member of the Sigma Alpha Agricultural Sorority, the NWMSU Livestock Judging Team (one year), the Collegiate Farm Bureau of Missouri, and played the tenor saxophone for the NWMSU Marching Band and bass clarinet for the NWMSU Symphonic Band. Furthermore, Zangaro held two swine production internships with Swine Graphic Enterprises (now known as Cactus Family Farms) in Iowa and Murphy Brown LLC. in Missouri (now known as Smithfield Foods). Zangaro also held a third internship involving swine research with Christensen Farms in Minnesota.
Zangaro furthered her education at South Dakota State University (SDSU) and received a Master’s of Science in Animal Science in May of 2018 with an emphasis in swine nutrition. Zangaro’s research examined increasing the nutritive value of dried distillers grains for grow-finishing pigs, focusing on fiber utilization. While attending SDSU, Zangaro was a teaching assistant for the Introduction to Horse Management and Swine Production classes as well as the Assistant Manager of the SDSU Offsite Wean-to-Finish Facility where she assisted with four large research projects.
Zangaro moved to Michigan in June, 2018, where she started as a Swine Extension Educator housed in the Gratiot County MSU Extension Office located in Alma, Michigan. Zangaro said that she is most excited about the variety and different opportunities related to her position as well as networking with other Extension educators and industry stakeholders. She has already had several meetings with swine producers across that state helping in the capacity of education and outreach along with volunteering at the 2018 Gratiot County Fair for Youth where she was able to meet other local livestock producers. Zangaro is also excited to explore the natural resources Michigan offers, including visits to the Great Lakes!
As a part of MSU Extension, Zangaro’s working region covers Gratiot County along with areas north of Lansing, Michigan. Zangaro can be reached by email at zangaroc@msu.edu or by phone at (989) 875-5292.