Specialist follows path to ‘help people, work with livestock’

Growing up on her family’s farm in Carroll County, Missouri, Shelby Davies Jenkins experienced the agricultural way of life from her earliest days.

Now a University of Missouri Extension livestock specialist, Jenkins cherishes those early farm memories.

“I grew up on a diversified row crop and beef cattle operation,” she says. “I was around it from an early age. Some of my earliest memories are checking cows with Dad before I went to preschool.”

She also showed animals at fairs while growing up. With those experiences, she grew interested in a career in livestock.

“I knew early on that livestock was my passion,” Jenkins says. “That was a big part of my childhood.”

After high school at Braymer, she decided to study animal science in college at the University of Missouri. She initially had ideas of becoming a veterinarian, but as part of her studies she took a Careers in Animal Science class.