Input, leadership, and education were all words used to describe the collaborative efforts of Schuler Red Angus when owners Butch and David Schuler received the 2025 Outstanding Service to Agriculture Award from the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research, Extension and Education Center. Dr. John Westra, UNL Panhandle Research Extension and Education Center Director (PREEC), presented the Schulers with the award at the annual Beef Feedlot Roundtables on Feb. 17, in Bridgeport, Neb.
Each year, the center's faculty awards a business, organization, or individual who has enhanced the UNL mission of research, teaching, and extension outreach. “In addition to developing and producing high-quality cattle, Schuler Red Angus has provided a long list of accomplishments in leadership, service, and dedication to agriculture in the Panhandle, and they have made a meaningful and lasting impact on the broader community,” Westra said.
“Through the years, we've been asked to serve on various committees with the university. Been blessed to be able to involve the university with field days that we've hosted, and they've always been there for us, and we're just proud to be able to give some of that back,” Butch Schuler said.
Over the past few years, Schuler Red Angus has provided valuable outreach opportunities to the agricultural community in the Panhandle, including hosting wildfire recovery meetings following the Hackberry fire in 2021. Additionally, the Schulers have hosted cheatgrass management education opportunities highlighting new herbicides that provide longer-term control of annual invasive grasses, and have hosted multiple UNL student groups, opening their ranch to help students better understand the challenges and opportunities of ranching in western Nebraska.
“I find that the university is still part of our lives on the ranch,” David Schuler said. “Especially the research center and lately with the research and the cheatgrass studies and being on the front end of sharing that good news of what we can do, and sharing those education workshops with our neighbors and our other community members.”
The Schulers have provided valuable input and leadership on how to facilitate relevant research and extension programming at PREEC. In 2025, the Schulers hosted a cattle management tour group from Argentina, and Butch has provided valuable input and leadership on the PREEC advisory committee.
