Pioneer in the field of animal nutrition and improving meat as a food.
1887-1986 | Artist: Othmar J. Hoffler (1893-1954)
Impact & Accomplishments
Dr. Gustav Bohstedt was a pioneer in the field of animal nutrition, introducing fibrous feed and urea in rations.
His work with vitamins and minerals in rations was cited when he was honored with the Morrison Award by the American Society of Animal Science in 1949.
Born in Holstein, Germany, Bohstedt’s family immigrated to America when he was fifteen years old. He entered the College of Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin and completed the requirements for the Ph.D. degree in 1925. By this time, he was chief of the Department of Animal Industry at the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station. Bohstedt returned to his alma mater in 1928 and was named chair of the Department of Animal Husbandry in 1943, retiring in 1957.
Did You Know?
During his more than 60 years of active participation in Wisconsin animal agriculture, he was
involved with animal nutrition research and teaching, and is thought to have taught more students
in a single course of "Feeds and Feeding" than any other to date. He was especially productive in
pioneering the use of fibrous feed in livestock rations, for feeding urea as a protein substitute to
dairy cattle, and most notably for studying the mineral and vitamin requirements for swine.
Subsequently, he became recognized as the "father of trace mineralized salt".
Photo by UWMadison Archives - Dr. Bohstedt pioneered the use of feeding urea as a protein substitute to dairy cattle.