Rick grew up on a dairy farm near Potsdam, NY. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Ruminant Nutrition from Purdue University. Rick spent 13 years at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln as a professor of ruminant nutrition and extension dairy specialist. His areas of interest include forage and non-forage sources of fiber, carbohydrate nutrition, and dairy cattle behavior. He has been president at Miner Institute since 2003.