Born: 1958
Married: Julie
3 Children
Lanas was born December 23, 1958. He was raised on the family farm on Cainsville Road between Lebanon and Norene where his mother still resides and his oldest brother, Quintin, still farms. He is the third of four boys, born to Ray and Dorothy Jean Smith. Lanas has always been proud of being a "fifth grade graduate" of the now closed Shop Springs School. He then attended schools in Lebanon and in 1976, graduating from Lebanon High School. While in high school, he served as President of the Wilson County 4-H Club and was an officer in the Lebanon FFA Chapter. He received his State FFA Degree and later his American Farmer Degree. In 1979, Lanas graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Animal Science and a minor in Agricultural Education. He won numerous individual and team awards as a member of the Livestock Judging Team and served as President of the Block and Bridle Club. It was during this time that he met his wife, Julie, who was on the Horse Judging Team at the same time he was on the Livestock Judging Team. In the fall of 1979, Lanas received a teaching fellowship to the University of Kentucky where he taught animal production and evaluation classes and coached the collegiate Livestock Judging Team while working on his graduate degrees. He received his M.S. degree in Animal Sciences in 1983 and his Ph.D. in Ruminant Nutrition in 1986. In the fall of 1986, Lanas accepted a position in St. Louis with Purina Mills as a cattle nutritionist. He was then transferred to Liberal, Kansas in 1987 as a consulting feedlot nutritionist. In 1989, he left Purina and started his own feedlot consulting business, Midwest Feedlot Nutrition. It was later that same year that he entered an agreement to do consulting for a small liquid premix company, Midwest PMS, Inc. It was from that small group of cattle specialists that they were able to build a cattle consulting nutritionist group that today services more than 40% of cattle on feed in the United States. In 1996, Julie and Lanas moved the family to Colorado, where they now reside on their horse and cattle farm outside of Boulder. Lanas operates his consulting business out of his home office and maintains accounts in ten states. He has also consulted internationally with cattle firms in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and South Africa. Lanas and Julie have three children, Paige, Parker, David.
