Manuel is the new Regional Dairy Educator for Sheboygan, Fond Du Lac, Dodge, and Ozaukee Counties. He is originally from Duitama, a small city in Colombia, 3 hours north of Bogotá, the capital city. He received his bachelor’s degree in Animal Science at Universidad Nacional de Colombia. In the last semesters he worked for a national breeding association. After graduation he did an internship at NC State University working on Dairy management and another one at University of Florida working on forages and nutrition. Working at UF he linked with a Clemson’s University professor who later would be his adviser on his master’s and PhD degrees. His research has been focused on ruminal nutrition and forage management for the dairy industry. Manuel is looking forward to giving back to the community, helping as much as possible with their issues as much as to learn from their success and working together with other specialists.

In his free time, he enjoys outdoor activities and sports but also listening to music, reading and writing and even though he is not a great player he enjoys chess a lot.