NC Pork Industry Honors Flowers with W.W. Shay Award for Industry Distinction

Billy Flowers of Raleigh, N.C., received the W.W. Shay Award for Industry Distinction, named after the state’s first swine extension specialist.

For more than 35 years, Flowers, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in the Department of Animal Science at NC State University, has influenced students towards a career in the swine industry through his Animal Science 150 class.

“I kind of feel sorry for the folks who work with cattle or horses or sheep,” Flowers said. “Just give a student a soft, cuddly baby pig and of course they are going to hold it and look at it and study it and then I’ve got them hooked.”

But students will tell you that Flowers himself is part of the reason that they fell in love with pigs. He has an uncanny ability to remember and connect with students.

“Before each semester, he memorizes something unique about each student and memorizes their faces. So I will always be Sara Dillon from Walkertown to him,” said Sara Hough, DVM. He converted her from wanting to do equine medicine to working with pigs. “It’s like he knew me better than I knew myself. I owe my career to him.”

Beyond working with students and cultivating a love for swine, Dr. Flowers, a reproductive physiologist, has had a tremendous impact on the swine industry, not just in North Carolina, but around the world. His research has focused on reproductive performance and lifetime productivity of the gilt. He pioneered the use of human ultrasound machines on the farm and is credited with helping the swine industry transition from natural mating to artificial insemination.