Real Cattle. real responsibility.
Prime Start puts high school students in charge of raising real cattle from the ground up. Students take on the animals, the feed, the health monitoring, the data collection, the record-keeping — the whole operation, start to finish. Beef Northwest provides the animals, feed, pen space at the Prime Start lot, and veterinary care at virtually no cost to the student.
This isn’t a classroom simulation. It’s the real thing, with real responsibility, on a working feedlot in Eastern Oregon.
What students gain
Two things: a foundation, and a payout.
Students leave with real experience in cattle production — feeding decisions, health calls, tracking growth and efficiency, the day-to-day judgment calls that don’t show up in a textbook. That kind of hands-on problem-solving carries into any career, agriculture or not.
And when the project wraps, they keep the profits earned from it. Not a stipend, not a certificate — actual ownership of the outcome, good or bad, based on the work they put in.
Who can apply
High school students in Umatilla County, Oregon.
We’re not just looking for a specific background or prior Ag experience — we’re looking for students who are serious about the work, eager to learn, and ready to show up for the animals every day, even when it’s not convenient. Prime Start asks a lot of the students who take it on, and it gives just as much back.
If that sounds like you, the application and FAQ are below.
CONTACT
If you have any questions,
please contact Kylie Temple at [email protected]
