Michael Barnes is the farm ranch manager at the Clayton Livestock Research Center, which is part of the NMSU Agricultural Experiment Station. Originally from Boise City, Oklahoma, Barnes has a bachelor’s degree in agriculture education with minors in animal science, agronomy, natural sciences and industrial arts from Oklahoma Panhandle State University.
Barnes has been at NMSU for six and a half years and is involved in several research projects at the center, including a project evaluating perennial versus annual forage production as a sustainable strategy in the southwestern United States.
Before coming to NMSU, Barnes taught agriculture in Rifle, Colorado; Vici, Oklahoma; and in Clayton, where he also taught welding, junior high school science, tech and drivers’ education. He raised show steers for 18 years, and had many calves make sales in Texas and Oklahoma. He also raised the Grand Champion Steer at the Oklahoma Youth Exposition in 2014.
Currently, Barnes serves as vice president of the Clayton Municipal Schools Board of Education and is a member of the Union County Youth Supporters. He and his wife, Katherine, and have three children, who are involved in most sports. Barnes’ daughters are also involved in 4-H and showing goats
For more information about the Clayton Livestock Research Center, visit https://claytonsc.nmsu.edu/.