Indiana FFA member named finalist for Star in Agriscience award

INDIANAPOLIS — Matthias Hefty, a current Purdue University student and former DeKalb FFA Chapter member, is one of four finalists for the American Star in Agriscience award at the National FFA Convention.

Starting in seventh grade, his supervised agricultural experiences revolved around raising meat goats. He averaged 20 breeding does per year.

“My freshman year I began focusing on improving efficiency and health of the herd through my four research projects,” Hefty said.

“First, I wanted to improve efficiency by reducing hay waste. I designed and built a hay bunk feeder with two variables to test against my control. This research had positive financial effects by reducing hay waste by 85%.”

Next, Hefty conducted research to lower parasite consumption while simultaneously decreasing the time it takes to care for his herd.

He modified a fence-line feeder by making the tray retractable from outside the pen.

“This design saved me 23 seconds per cleaning and eliminated reoccurring parasite issues, which reduced the number of treatments by 50%,” he said.

Hefty also wanted to find a cost-effective, home-based method to identify parasites in order to properly treat and reduce medication resistance.

“I created four variables of fecal flotation solutions to test against my control, which was my vet’s fecal flotation solution,” he said. “This test found that sodium nitrate was most effective at detecting parasites and had a cost savings of $4.91 per test.”

Lastly, Hefty wanted to reduce the amount of labor required to trim his goats’ hooves.

“I designed a hoof trimming leg holder which made the process less physically demanding and reduced labor from three people down to one saving me $8.35 every time I trimmed a goat’s hooves,” he said.

Through these experiments, Hefty learned that any problem can be solved with the scientific method.

“Within my goat herd I struggled with hay waste, parasites and hoof trimming,” he said. “These problems were hurting the health and profits of my herd. Using the scientific method I was able to create solutions that eliminated those issues which improved the health and profits of my herd.”

Hefty said he is honored to be selected as an American Star in Agriscience finalist.

Other finalists are: Delana Erbsen of the Eastland FFA Chapter in Illinois, Joanna Hamilton from the Felicity-Franklin FFA Chapter in Ohio, and Madison Perkins from the Gilmer FFA Chapter in Texas.

“I’ve spent countless hours on research and testing to find solutions to problems within my goat herd,” Hefty said. “This recognition acknowledges my research and designs, as well as all the hours I put into it.

“My favorite thing about FFA is how I was able to create solutions to problems in my goat SAE and present these solutions through agriscience to compete with others.

“This has helped me grow in my problem solving and communication skills while also giving me the opportunity to share my work with the agriculture industry, as I know many goat farmers struggle with the same problems.”