University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) distinguished alumnus Dennis Byrne helped start CANR’s Angus cattle herd in 1995. Byrne’s recent donation of semen from a bull in his family’s herd will help to improve the genetics of the college’s Angus cattle herd.

Career cowboy

Article by Molly Schafer Photos courtesy of Dennis Byrne and Jessica Canada January 02, 2026

Alumnus Dennis Byrne embodies College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ mission

During an agronomy course in the 1970s, a professor at the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) introduced Dennis Byrne to the grand challenges that define our relationship with the natural world and the future of global agriculture.

“This was during the Vietnam War. I was up to be drafted — a lot was going on in the world,” said Byrne, a UD Class of 1977 graduate. “My agronomy professor talked about population growth and how, eventually, we wouldn’t be able to feed the world.”

Byrne was studying pre-veterinary medicine while working on his father-in-law’s dairy and crop farm. The lecture led Byrne to change his major to focus on feeding the world. He graduated from UD with a bachelor’s degree in animal science and agriculture education.

Byrne, who retired in 2022 after serving as farm manager at Herr Angus Farms for 37 years, finds joy in giving back to the place that launched his career. In 1995, he helped start CANR’s Angus cattle herd by facilitating the purchase of heifers and a donation of bull semen from Herr Angus Farms, a division of Herr Foods.

Now, 30 years after that initial donation, Byrne is again supporting the college by donating semen from a bull in his family’s herd. The donation will help to improve the genetics of CANR’s Angus herd.

“We’ve been using this bull for a couple of years now, and he’s in the top 1% of the breed for both $B and $C,” Byrne said, referring to the economic selection indexes used by the American Angus Association to estimate the genetic merit of cattle. “His calves are real stick-outs, so I can’t wait to see them.”

CANR’s registered Angus cattle herd provides hands-on learning opportunities to students starting in their first year. Byrne sees supporting agricultural education programs as essential for the future of American farming.

Byrne sees supporting agricultural education programs as essential for the future of farming.

“It’s important to me that the school continues to have a strong beef program, and the herd is a great educational tool,” Byrne said. “The current age of ranchers and farmers continues to climb, and we need more young people involved in farming.”

Lesa (Griffiths) Massarotti, professor in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, says Byrne’s 30-year collaboration with CANR helped to facilitate hands-on experiences for students on the college’s Webb Farm.

“Dennis and Dottie Byrne were instrumental in helping us establish an Angus cattle herd in our college,” Massarotti said. “They’ve hosted social events and field trips for the Animal Science Club and welcomed the college’s international visitors with tours of Herr Angus Farm. Dennis exemplifies what it means to be a CANR alumnus.”

Twin pregnancies are not common in beef cattle. These healthy twins were born in May 2025 on the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources' Webb Farm.

Byrne says his endocrinology professor, Professor Emeritus Paul Meckley, sparked his interest in cattle genetics. Meckley also connected Byrne with Jim Evans at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Vet New Bolton Center. Evans' embryo transfer division was one of the first in the eastern U.S. Byrne was fascinated. After graduating from UD, he worked with Evans as an embryo transfer technician and later started his own business assisting veterinarians with embryo transfers.

“As a trained technician, I had a lot of opportunities that other people wouldn’t have had at that time,” Byrne said.

Byrne went on to manage Herr Angus Farms. The farm allows Herr Foods to be more environmentally responsible by reducing the factory’s major byproducts — food solids and treated water used during production. The farm recycles water from the Herr plant and prevents food waste by feeding the steers what Byrne calls “steer party mix,” a mix of popcorn, potato chips, pretzels and corn chips.

“The aquifer continues to supply about 1.5 million gallons a week of water to the plant for processing potatoes; we put the water back in the ground and recharge the aquifer,” Byrne said.

Some 50 years after Byrne graduated, the distinguished alumnus remains committed to feeding the world. His family’s farm in Nottingham, Pennsylvania, supplies close to 250 pounds of beef per month to local school districts through the PA Beef to PA Schools Program and donates beef to organizations working to end hunger.

Byrne has received numerous awards for his commitment to agriculture and conservation. In 2010, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Byrne also served as chair for the Pennsylvania Beef Council and the Pennsylvania Beef Quality Assurance Programs. Byrne remains committed to conservation initiatives in his consulting work. He advises farmers to take advantage of existing programs that assist farms with water quality projects.

“People call sustainability a hundred things, but for me, it means you can do it all again next year,” Byrne said. “I’ve always been a fanatic about water quality. We’re blessed to have an abundance of water here in the Northeast, but we're also responsible for it.”

Spring Hope Farm

Byrne is spending retirement on Spring Hope Farm, founded by Becky and Jake Yohe, Byrne’s daughter and son-in-law. Jake is a professional engineer, a UD Class of 2003 alumnus, and a former medal-winning member of the UD swim team. Becky is a nurse practitioner. Spring Hope Farm is a family affair, with Byrne and Dottie lending their time and expertise to the enterprise, which provides high-quality cattle genetics in the Black Angus breed and offers freezer beef sales.

Spring Hope Farm provides high-quality cattle genetics in the Black Angus breed. The farm, founded by Becky and Jake Yohe, a UD Class of 2003 alumnus, is a family affair. Dennis and Dottie lend their time and expertise to the enterprise.

Over the years, Byrne donated a steak dinner fundraiser for the Lighthouse Youth Center in Oxford, Pennsylvania. He cherishes those memories and hopes to pass the project on to his daughter. He says everything goes back to his UD agronomy professor’s call to feed the world.

“What still motivates me is feeding people,” Byrne said. “Throughout my career, with the help of many other people, I’ve been able to put a lot of meals on tables, and that feels really good. But then there are times when you go to bed at night, and you realize people are still starving in this world, and that’s hard. So it motivates me to get up the next morning, to feed more people.”