Our Team | Sara Place, Ph.D.
Contact: [email protected]
Associate Professor of Feedlot Systems
Dr. Sara Place is an expert in livestock systems sustainability with over a decade of experience in academia, industry associations, and private industry. Most recently, Sara has been the Chief Sustainability Officer at Elanco Animal Health where she provided technical expertise on sustainability issues to customers and supported Elanco’s Healthy Purpose. Prior to Elanco, she was the senior director for sustainable beef production research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and an assistant professor in sustainable beef cattle systems at Oklahoma State University. She received her PhD in Animal Biology from the University of California, Davis, and a BS in Animal Science from Cornell University. Sara is a native of upstate NY where she grew up on a dairy farm.
Recent Publications:
- Schilling-Hazlett, A. K., Stackhouse-Lawson, K. R., Bryant, T. C., Place, S. E., Ritten, J. P., Vargas, J. J., Reis, I. A., Martins, E. C., Swenson, M. A., Burke, E. N., Campion, R. K., Velasquez, C., Shadbolt, A. M. & Carvalho, P. H. (2025). Evaluation of cattle Sub-species and growth-promoting technology on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and enteric gas flux of steers finished in winter feedlot conditions. Journal of Animal Science, skaf448.
- Swenson, M., Place, S., Tonsor, G., & Luke, J. (2025). Environmental and Ethical Considerations. Veterinary Clinics: Food Animal Practice.
- Vargas, J. D. J., Werner, M., Swenson, M., Sitorski, L., Paula, E. M., Manriquez, D., Carvalho, P. H. & Place, S. E. (2025). Residual methane emission determination and classification of growing steers during the backgrounding and finishing phases. Journal of Animal Science, 103, skaf403.
- Gandolfo, I. M., Derner, J. D., Enns, R. M., Kuehn, L. A., Johnston, M. K., Kearney, S. P., Place, S., Raynor, E., Ritten, J., Shadbolt, A., Stackhouse-Lawson, K., Vargas, J., & Carvalho, P. H. (2025). Steer Growth Performance and Enteric Gas Flux Across Backgrounding Phases in the Western Great Plains. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 103, 247-257.
- Schilling-Hazlett, A. K., Stackhouse-Lawson, K. R., Bryant, T. C., Vargas, J. J., Place, S. E., Ritten, J. P., Martins, E. C., Souze, W. A., Swenson, M. A., Burke, E. N., Campion, R. K., Shadbolt, A. M., & Carvalho, P. H. (2025). Evaluation of cattle sub-species and growth-promoting technology on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and gas flux of steers finished in summer feedlot conditions. Journal of Animal Science, skaf322.
- Raynor, E. J., Shadbolt, A. M., Johnston, M. K., Augustine, D., Derner, J., Ritten, J. P., Delay, N., Carvalho, P., Vargas, J., Place, S., & Stackhouse-Lawson, K. R. (2025). Incorporating virtual fencing to manage yearling steers on extensive rangelands: spatial behavior, growth performance, and enteric methane emissions. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 12, 1637190.
- Vargas, J., Swenson, M., Gomez-Salmoral, M., Garcia, L., Paula, E., Sitorski, L., Campos, L., Carvalho, P., Stackhouse-Lawson, K., DiLorenzo, N., & Place, S. (2025). Use of animal performance and gas flux for estimating dry matter intake in growing steers. Translational Animal Science, 9, txaf111
- Vargas, J., Swenson, M., Schilling-Hazlett, A. K., Reis, I. A., Velasquez, C., Martins, E. C., Sitorski, L., Campos, L. M., Carvalho, P. H. V., Stackhouse-Lawson, K. R., Place, S. E. (2025). Evaluation of models of enteric methane emissions in finishing steers. animal.
- Thompson, L. R., Beck, M. R., Larson, H., Rowntree, J. E., Place, S. E., Stackhouse-Lawson, K. R. (2025). Is Climate Neutral possible for the U.S. beef and dairy sectors? Frontiers.
- Shaffer, W. R., Hidalgo, J., Bello, N. M., Noland, R., Bormann, J., Weaber, R. L., Ahlberg, C. M., Bruno, k., Krehbiel, C. R., Calvo-Lorenzo, M. S., Richards, C. J., Place, S. E., DeSilva, U., Kuehn, L. A., Rolf, M. M. (2025). Beef cattle phenotypic plasticity and stability of dry matter intake and respiration rate across varying levels of temperature humidity index. Journal of Animal Science.
- Raynor, E. J., Carvalho, P. H. V., Vargas, J. d. J., Martins, E. C., Souza, W. A., Shadbolt, A. M., Jannat, A., Place, S. E., & Stackhouse-Lawson, K. R. (2025). Accounting for Diurnal Variation in Enteric Methane Emissions from Growing Steers Under Grazing Conditions. Grasses, 4(1), 12.
- de J Vargas, J., Manriquez, D., Swenson, M., Carvalho, P. H., & Place, S. E. Enteric methane emission classification and ranking of growing steers during the backgrounding and finishing phases. Journal of Animal Science.
- Place, S. E. (2024). Environmental Sustainability of Livestock Systems. Meat and Muscle Biology 8(1): 18117, 1-5.
- Vargas, J., Carvalho, P., Raynor, E., Martins, E., Souza, W., Shadbolt, A., Stackhouse-Lawson, K., Place, S. (2024) Determination of gas flux of growing steers under intensive grazing conditions, Translational Animal Science.
- Raynor, E. J., Kutz, M., Thompson, L. R., Carvalho, P. H., Place, S. E., & Stackhouse-Lawson, K. R. (2024). Impact of growth implants and low-level tannin supplementation on enteric emissions and nitrogen excretion in grazing steers. Translational Animal Science.
- Place, S. E. (2024). Examining the role of ruminants in sustainable food systems. Grass and Forage Science, 1–9.
- Vargas, J. D. J., Swenson, M., & Place, S. E. (2024). Determination of gas flux and animal performance test duration of growing cattle in confined conditions. Translational Animal Science,
- Raynor, E.J., Schilling-Hazlett, A, Place, S, Vargas, J, Stackhouse-Lawson, K, Thompson, L, Johnston, M, Jorns, T, Beck, M, Kuehn, L, Derner, J. (2024). Snapshot of Enteric Methane Emissions from Stocker Cattle Grazing Extensive Semiarid Rangelands.
- Vargas, J. J., Menezes, T. C., Auvermann, B., Derner, J. D., Thoma, G., Hales, K., Johnson, K., Leytem, A., Place, S., Plaut, J.,& Stackhouse-Lawson, K. R. (2024). Net zero initiative in US beef and dairy systems: integrative on-farm recommendations for greenhouse gas reduction. Environmental Research Communications, 6(10), 101010.
- Dressler, E. A., Shaffer, W., Bruno, K., Krehbiel, C. R., Calvo-Lorenzo, M., Richards, C. J., Place, S. E., DeSilva, U., Kuehn, L., Weaber, R., Bormann, J., & Rolf, M. M. (2023). Heritability and variance component estimation for feed and water intake behaviors of feedlot cattle. Journal of Animal Science, 101.
- Beck, M. R., Thompson, L. R., Rowntree, J. E., Thompson, T. N., Koziel, J. A., Place, S. E., & Stackhouse-Lawson, K. R. (2023). US manure methane emissions represent a greater contributor to implied climate warming than enteric methane emissions using the global warming potential* methodology. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, 1209541.
- Dean, L., Tarpoff, A., Nickles, K., Place, S., Edwards‐Callaway, L. (2023). Heat Stress Mitigation Strategies in Feedyards: Use, Perceptions, and Experiences of Industry Stakeholders. Animals, 13(19), 3029.
- Derner, J., Wilmer, H., Stackhouse-Lawson, K., Place, S., Boggess, M. (2023). Practical considerations for adaptive strategies by US grazing land managers with a changing climate. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment, 6(1), e20356.
- Place, S. E., McCabe, C. J., & Mitloehner, F. M. (2022). Symposium review: Defining a pathway to climate neutrality for US dairy cattle production. Journal of Dairy Science, 105(10), 8558-8568.