Dairy Extension Specialist Retiring
	
Auburn, Dec. 17, 2003 --- Dr. Buelon R. (Pete) Moss, a dairy specialist with the Alabama 
Cooperative Extension System, is retiring this month. He has seen more of the world than most 
working in the dairy industry, and he carries many memories of people he has known along the 
way.
	
There are memories of his parents, farmers who raised their eight children in Illinois and then in 
Kentucky. There are memories of each dairy producer he has worked with, whether it was in 
Alabama or Thailand, Montana or China. Finally, there are memories of each student he has 
taught and each graduate student he has mentored.
	
“It’s the people,” Moss said, “that certainly mean a lot to me.”
	
For the past 20 years, Moss has worked to make dairy a profitable industry for producers in 
Alabama. It is obvious that working with people is what has made his job worthwhile. 
	
Moss graduated from Berea College in 1960 with a degree in agriculture. He received his 
teaching certificate from the University of Kentucky and became a vocational agriculture instructor 
in Kentucky high schools. He earned his Ph.D. in dairy nutrition from the University of Tennessee. 
From 1969 to 1983, he taught at Montana State University then came to the Alabama 
Cooperative Extension System in 1983.
	
Moss has worked in a variety of areas during his career. He has studied everything from feeding 
programs, milking facilities and barn arrangements to how producers can be ready to feed cattle 
in case of nuclear fallout. He has worked with farms that had anywhere from three to 1,500 cows, 
all with the goal, as he put it, “of providing programs that endeavor to help producers make a 
profit.”
	
“Wherever Pete goes, he touches people’s lives,” said Jim Cravey, dairy commodity director for 
the Alabama Farmers Federation, who has known Moss since the beginning of his Alabama 
career.
	
For all his skill and knowledge, Moss has earned an impressive list of awards and honors. He 
was named a John F. Kennedy/Fulbright Scholar in 1998, an honor that allowed him to go to 
Thailand as a visiting professor. Moss also received various teaching and service awards 
throughout his career. 	
	 
As the only Extension dairy specialist in Alabama, Moss has played a crucial role in maintaining 
quality dairy programs throughout the state. At the same time, he has been involved in foreign 
dairy industries and in the lives and careers of many students. 
	
Dr. Dale Coleman, associate professor of animal sciences at Auburn University, has known Moss 
since he first came to Alabama.  In their years of working together, the two have made countless 
trips across the state, where they bonded while crawling under cows to check IDs and while 
comforting 4-H kids whose dreams of blue ribbons went unfulfilled.
	
“Pete is the consummate professional with a heart of gold,” Coleman said. “If he was in the 
middle of a presentation and saw someone crying in the corner, he would stop what he was doing 
to go over and see what the problem was so he could help.” 
	
Boyd Brady, an Extension dairy associate, has worked with Moss for almost 15 years. 
Throughout their time together, Brady has learned some valuable life lessons from Moss 
including that work does not  feel so much like work when your colleagues care about you.
	
“He’s been a mentor to me and to others,” Brady said, “but not just work-related. He cares about 
people and their families and what’s going on outside of work.”
	
For Moss, the state of Alabama has been his classroom. When he first began working at Auburn 
University as a professor and extension dairy specialist, he traveled about four days a week.
	
But retirement will neither stop nor slow his life. On the contrary, he said that after his retirement 
at the end of this year, he could be busier than ever. If plans approved, he will keep working a few 
weeks every month in a transitional period.
	
He hopes, though, that retirement will eventually bring him more time to read and to be involved 
with church work. And some day, all that reading and church going will take place back home on 
the farm in Kentucky, where he plans to build a house. His retirement will also bring him more 
time to travel for pleasure and to continue being a “fixer-upper” in his spare time. Most 
importantly, he said, retiring will allow him more time to spend with his family, especially his 
grandchildren.  Moss and his wife have three daughters and six grandchildren.
	
“I’ve been very fortunate that it’s been a pleasure to go to work in the morning and a pleasure to 
come home at night,” he said.