Karen Beauchemin facts for kids

Karen Beauchemin is a Canadian scientist who is an expert in how cows eat and how their digestion affects the environment. Her amazing research helps farmers raise healthier cattle for milk and meat. It also helps reduce the amount of gases that cows release into the air, which is good for our planet!

Thanks to the work of Beauchemin and her team, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is known worldwide for measuring greenhouse gases. They also create ways to lower these gases from farming, including from livestock. Beauchemin has received many awards for her important work. These include honors from the Canadian Society of Animal Science and the American Dairy Science Association. She also received awards from the Chinese Academy of Science and the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry.

About Karen Beauchemin

Karen Beauchemin was born in 1956 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She spent her early childhood in Nova Scotia before moving back to Quebec at age 10. Growing up, she became very interested in food and how it affects living things. This led her to study animal science.

She went to McGill University for her first degree in agriculture. Then, she earned a master's degree in animal nutrition from Université de Laval. She completed her studies with a PhD in how ruminant animals, like cows, digest food. This was at the University of Guelph in 1988. Karen married Sean McGinn in 1983. They have two daughters and live in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Karen's Career Journey

Before getting her PhD, Karen Beauchemin worked in the animal feed industry. She was a nutritionist for beef and dairy cattle. This job helped her understand the real-world needs of farmers. In 1988, she started her research career as a scientist. She worked at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research Centre in Alberta.

She quickly moved up in her career. By 2005, she reached the highest level for a research scientist. She is also a professor at several universities, including the University of Alberta and the University of Saskatchewan. Karen often says her success comes from working with many talented students and other scientists.

Improving Cattle Health and Digestion

Early in her career, Beauchemin mainly studied how dairy cows eat. Later, her research grew to include both beef and dairy cattle. She made many important discoveries about how cows digest food and use their feed.

Beauchemin created a wide-ranging research program. Its goal was to help cattle use their food better. She focused on how the rumen (the first stomach of a cow) works. She also studied how to prevent acidosis, a stomach problem in cattle. Her work also looked at how cows use different types of feed, like hay and grain.

Her research on the rumen helped create guidelines for feeding dairy cows and cattle raised for meat. These guidelines help prevent subacute ruminal acidosis. This is a mild form of acidosis that can make cows sick. Her studies also showed how important fiber in their diet is for healthy digestion. These findings have helped farmers feed their cattle better.

Helping Cows Use Feed Better

Karen Beauchemin is also known around the world for her work on improving how cows use forages (like grass and hay). She studied how special feed enzymes and other additives can help. Her goal was to find out how these enzymes make digestion better. This way, new products can be developed to help the cattle industry.

Reducing Methane from Cattle

More recently, Beauchemin started looking at the bigger environmental effects of cattle farming. In the early 2000s, she began a research program to measure methane emissions from cattle. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Her goal was to find ways to lower these emissions.

Her research looks at how cattle farming affects greenhouse gases. She aims to find ways to reduce the enteric methane that cows produce. This methane is a natural byproduct when cows digest their food. Her work is leading to new ways of feeding cattle that improve air quality. It also helps reduce the environmental footprint of livestock farming.

Her research found that feeding cattle a new supplement can cut methane production by 30%. This not only helps the environment but also makes farming more efficient. When cows produce less methane, they use their food better. This means they can turn plants into milk and meat more effectively for people.

Awards and Scholarships

In 2011, Beauchemin received the Bertebos Prize. This is a very important award from the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. She won it for her work on reducing methane emissions.

Beauchemin used her prize money to start a scholarship fund. This fund is at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Its purpose is to help women get an education. So far, three female students studying animal science have received this scholarship.

Impact on Beef Cattle Guidelines

Beauchemin was asked to be a member of a special committee. This committee worked on the Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle. This book provides feeding guidelines for beef cattle in North America. As the only Canadian member, her ideas helped make sure the book was useful for Canadian farms too. Today, this guide is used by experts who work with animal nutrition, veterinarians, and food regulators.

Karen Beauchemin retired from public service in 2022. Throughout her career, she wrote many scientific papers, book chapters, and articles. She is recognized as a Woman of Impact in Canada. This honor celebrates her important scientific contributions as a woman in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).

Honours and Awards

• B.Sc. awarded with honours, 1978
• Ph.D. awarded with distinction, 1988
• Natural Science and Engineering Research Council doctoral student award, 1983–88
• 1st prize for presentation in CSAS Graduate Student Competition, 1987
• Canadian Society of Animal Science Young Scientist Award, 1994
• Travel Scholarship, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, 2005
• American Dairy Science Association Pioneer Hi-Bred Forage Award, 2005
• Gold Harvest Award of Excellence, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2007
• George B. Caine Foundation Award, Utah State University, 2008
• Sir Frederick McMaster Fellowship, CSIRO, Australia, 2009
• Canadian Society of Animal Science Excellence in Nutrition and Meat Science Award, 2009
• American Dairy Science Association, Nutrition Professionals Applied Dairy Nutrition Award, 2010
• The Bertebos Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, 2011
• Visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2011–13
• Canadian Society of Animal Science Fellowship Award, 2014
• Canadian Beef Industry Award for Outstanding Research and Innovation, 2020
• Gold Harvest Award, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2021
• Women of Impact in Canada - Women in STEM Gallery