BIF: Five Year National Feed Efficiency Study

3 Key Points:

1. Beef production is 4th largest U.S. manufacturing industry; 1% genetic improvement in cattle would contribute $700 million annually to economy
2. 10% improvement in RFI equates to $1 billion in savings/profit for beef industry
3. Five-year, multi-breed study is designed to look at opportunities and challenges and make recommendations

Goals and Objectives for a Five Year National Research and Extension Project to Improve Feed Efficiency in Beef Cattle

Dorian Garrick, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, gave an overview about an upcoming project to look at feed efficiency in beef cattle. The multi-breed, multi-collaborator project will evaluate many aspects of feed efficiency, including: economic impact, greenhouse gas emissions, rations, days to finish, etc.

Genetic improvement and feed efficiency in the beef industry have serious economic effects attached to them. Yearling weight alone holds significant economic merit. A 0.5% improvement in yearling weight performance means hundreds of millions of dollars in increased monetary value. Looking at it from the feed efficiency side, a 10% improvement in Residual Feed Intake (RFI) equates to $1 billion in savings/profit industry-wide. These are real numbers and the beef industry is leaving a lot of money on the table.

Feed efficiency can also be important in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and competition with humans for consumption of grains. Regardless of the political implications regarding both issues, the study is aimed at measuring the correlation feed efficiency has with each.

As part of the study, researchers are planning to genotype six breeds using the 700k high-density DNA panel. This data will then be evaluated next to the actual phenotype performance data from the test animals. RFI, days to finish, forage vs. grain rations, greenhouse gas emissions, and gut microbe composition will be evaluated.

The study has a large extension component to it as well. Results from the study will be used to illustrate the economic impact beef cattle efficiency has to the nation’s ranches. Needless to say, efficiency has become, and will be, a big issue in the next decade. There’s a large price tag attached to increased efficiency and performance for the beef industry. For more information, visit www.beefefficiency.org.

Question: what kind of response do you get when you discuss feed efficiency with your customers? Post your comments below.

BIF: Altenburg: Global Competitiveness & AI

3 Key Points:

1. Artificial insemination (AI) use in U.S. and Canada has been improving
2. Brazil & Argentina lead the world in AI use; volume is huge
3. American breeders would be well-served to visit international customers to enhance competitive edge

The Role of Genetic Evaluation Technology in Enhancing Global Competitiveness

Willie Altenburg, Associate Vice President – Beef Marketing, Genex Cooperative, Inc., Shawano, WI, provided his insights on genetic evaluation technologies and their role in enhancing the beef industry’s competitiveness on a global stage. Altenburg believes the U.S. and Canadian cattle industries have increasingly embraced AI but no where near on the level of international markets.

Currently, less than 5% of the U.S. cowherd is AI’d; about 15% in heifers. Time and labor costs are still the most prohibitive factors. In comparison, Argentina and Brazil have very high AI usage. In fact, the AI technician in those countries are highly-valued members of the operations.

Altenburg believes the lack of interaction between U.S. and Australian breeders is not supporting a better position on the global stage. The gene pools are quite similar but it’s more difficult to use the data from Australia and incorporate it into American databases than vice versa. This has created a perception of increased competition when selling semen to Argentina and Brazil.

Altenburg suggests breeders visit potential customers in target markets overseas. “After all,” he said, “visiting your customer and understanding their needs are the best way to increase market share.” Greater cooperation, increased genetics through AI and paying attention to international genetic markets will serve the North American cattle industries well, Altenburg concluded.

Question: why do you use AI? Comment below!

BIF: Continuing Service Awards

Five recipients of the 2011 Beef Improvement Federation Continuing Service Award were announced during the June 2 luncheon. The BIF Continuing Service Award is given annually to individuals who have made a significant contribution to the beef industry. This year’s recipients:

Tommy Brown

Brown has spent his entire professional career with the goal of educating cattle producers on the importance of performance traits in cattle selection. Brown, who retired after a 32-year career as a county agent and regional animal scientist, is credited with being the innovator that moved the Alabama cattle industry to a higher plane through the use of performance records and new marketing schemes.

Under his leadership, feeder-calf sales were developed to market Alabama calves in truckload groups and special heifer sales featuring genetically superior females were established. Brown also established a bred heifer sale that continues to provide opportunities for both buyers and sellers to capitalize on the need for good cattle.

Brown has received numerous awards during his career, including the prestigious Richard Deese Award, which is given by the Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Association (BCIA) for outstanding service and dedication to the Alabama BCIA and its performance principles.

He has served two terms on the BIF board of directors and was elected president in 2008. He has been on the BIF program many times as a speaker or as a moderator at the annual convention. Brown has served as an advisor for the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium (NBCEC). He served two terms as a trustee of the American Simmental Association (ASA), where he was chairman of the Beef Improvement Committee.

Meadow Lane Farms, which is owned by Brown, is one of the early sources for quality black Simmental genetics in the Southeast. Meadow Lane has produced cattle that are in high demand as evidenced by their ability to sell at the top of many BCIA sales, as well as the Sunshine Farms bull sale.

He is currently serving as genetic and marketing manager at Sunshine Farms, which, under his leadership, has developed a reputation for producing outstanding cattle within a system where selection decisions are data-driven.

Brown is a graduate of Auburn University, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He and his wife, Linda, are the parents of two children, Lee and Jill, and two grandchildren.

Mark Enns

Enns was born and raised near Enid, Okla. During his youth, he gained valuable production experience working on his family’s wheat and cattle farm. In 1987, he received dual degrees in biology and natural science from Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kan. A year later, following a stint in private industry, he began work on a master’s degree in animal breeding and genetics under the supervision of Jim Brinks in the CSU Department of Animal Sciences. Enns completed his doctoral studies under the co-direction of Rick Bourdon and Jim Brinks.

During his graduate studies he worked as a research associate for the CSU Beef Cattle Improvement Center near Encampment, Wyo. His duties included development of breeding plans and supervision of data collection and database management for the 450-head purebred Angus herd.

Following completion of his doctoral studies, Enns served as a visiting research scientist for Landcorp Farming Ltd. in New Zealand. While there he developed genetic evaluation systems and breeding programs for the company’s deer, sheep, goat and beef enterprises.

Enns joined the animal sciences faculty at the University of Arizona in 1995 as an assistant professor. In 2001, he returned to CSU’s Department of Animal Sciences as assistant professor, where his appointment includes research, teaching and outreach components. He was promoted to associate professor in 2007.

From 2003-2008, Enns supervised the activities of the CSU Center for Genetic Evaluation of Livestock, which provides genetic evaluation system development and services to a number of U.S. and international clients. He teaches a number of graduate and undergraduate courses at CSU and has been a member of a multi-state faculty team that has developed a popular breeding and genetics online curriculum for graduate students. Enns represents CSU on the Scientific Council of the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium (NBCEC), where he’s provided leadership for a number of years.

His research program focuses on methods to genetically evaluate and select animals that fit their production environment both biologically and economically. These efforts include development of new methods for evaluating and improving cow and heifer fertility, cow maintenance requirements, time to finish in the feedlot; and development of methods to better use economic information in selection decisions for increased profitability of beef production. His productive research program has attracted more than $13 million dollars in extramural support. Most notably, Enns was the project coordinator for the NBCEC Genetics of Feedlot Cattle Health project and is co-principal investigator on a recently funded $9 million project to investigate the genetic basis of bovine respiratory disease (BRD).

Enns has authored or co-authored and published 47 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts, five book chapters, 54 conference or symposia proceedings, 53 abstracts and numerous technical reports and popular press articles. He has given more than 120 invited presentations and symposia to a variety of state, national and international audiences.

His expertise is recognized around the world as exemplified by his service as a peer reviewer for scientific journals and authors in Canada, South Africa, Australia, Europe and the United States. He has served on a number of breed improvement and technical advisory committees.

Enns has been an active leader in BIF and a proponent of the BIF mission. He is an advocate of practical, modern beef cattle genetic selection systems. His contribution to BIF includes service as the western regional secretary and chairman of the Cow Herd Efficiency Committee since 2003. Enns was a leader and member of Colorado Host committee for the 39th BIF research symposium and annual meeting in Fort Collins, Colo., in 2007. He has distinguished himself through sustained service to BIF and its mission, making him a worthy recipient of the BIF Continuing Service Award.

Joe Paschal

Paschal is currently a professor and extension livestock specialist located at the AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Corpus Christi.

A native of Corpus Christi, Paschal earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal science and a doctorate. in animal breeding and genetics at TAMU. He is a member of the animal breeding and genetics section of the TAMU Department of Animal Science and is on the graduate faculty at TAMU. He is also an adjunct/external professor of animal science at TAMU-Kingsville.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree, Paschal served as director of breed improvement and foreign marketing for the American-International Charolais Association (AICA). Upon completion of his doctoral degree in 1986, he served as a lecturer and undergraduate counselor in the Texas A&M Department of Animal Science.

Paschal began his extension career as a livestock specialist at the Fort Stockton, Texas, District Extension Headquarters. In 1988, he moved to Corpus Christi to assume his current position, where his primary interests have been in applied beef cattle breeding and genetics (especially involving the use of Bos indicus), production systems, and beef cattle growth and development.

One of his primary efforts for several years was as founder and director of the Texas A&M Ranch-to-Rail South program, where consignors could have steers from their breeding programs evaluated under South Texas conditions for feedlot performance and carcass merit. As an outgrowth of that program, he established the South Texas Carcass Data Service.

Paschal has been involved in the American Brahman Breeders Association Carcass Merit Program, the Santa Gertrudis Breeders International National Steer Feedout, Beefmaster Breeders United Carcass Data Program, and the American Simmental-Simbrah Association Simbrah Steer Program. He has provided guidance to the Jim Wells County Beef Cattle Improvement Association Bull Gain Test and the Rio Grande Valley Association Bull Gain and Replacement Heifer Development Program.

Paschal has authored 13 refereed papers, 16 Texas Extension bulletins, 39 Texas Extension studies and reports, 28 special industry/commodity reports, 43 Texas Research publications, and 40 popular press articles.

He has been involved with BIF for more than 30 years, starting with his position with the AICA. He was part of the host committee for the 1991 annual BIF meeting in San Antonio, served as coordinator of the 2001 annual meeting in San Antonio, and will assist in coordinating another meeting in Texas in the near future. In 1995, Paschal became the BIF liaison for the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Extension Group.

Bob Weaber

Weaber grew up on his family’s cattle and sheep ranch in southern Colorado. After graduating from high school, he attended Colorado State University (CSU) where he received his bachelor’s degree in animal science in 1993. He then continued on in CSU’s Beef Industry Leadership master’s program, graduating in 1995. During a portion of this time, he served as a legislative affairs intern in Washington, D.C., covering Congressional hearings on agriculture, appropriations, food safety and trade.

Subsequent to that he served as director of education and research for the American Gelbvieh Association and then as the interim director of performance programs for the American Simmental Association.

In 2000, Weaber entered a doctoral program at Cornell University, graduating in 2004. Since then, he has been an assistant professor and state extension specialist in beef genetics at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU). He has accepted and will begin a position with Kansas State University this fall.

Weaber has given more than 52 invited presentations at international, national, regional and state meetings and conferences. He has served on the BIF board of directors in many different roles since 2000; he has been the Central Region secretary since 2006, and he served as the leading organizer for the 2010 BIF annual meeting.

Marty Ropp

Ropp grew up on a swine operation near Bloomington, in central Illinois. From early on, he possessed a penchant and aptitude for livestock judging — an ability he has nurtured and honed over his lifetime and still utilizes to this day.

In 1987, Ropp graduated from Kansas State University (K-State), where he was an accomplished member of the livestock judging team. While earning a master’s degree in animal science from the University of Missouri (MU), Ropp served as the coach of the university’s livestock judging team. He continues to judge livestock shows throughout the country and has volunteered countless hours in educating youth about showing and judging livestock.

Upon receiving his master’s, Ropp took a position as a regional livestock specialist in Missouri, and later as an extension swine specialist in Michigan.

In 1998, he began work at the American Simmental Association (ASA) as its director of commercial programs. Immediately upon his hiring, Ropp initiated and developed ASA’s young sire testing program along with Jerry Lipsey. He has since nurtured the program into the industry’s largest structured sire test, with hundreds of sires of several breeds being tested through the years.

Ropp wore many hats while at ASA. In addition to his initial responsibilities as director of commercial programs, he was later tapped to direct ASA’s field services. He worked diligently to build bridges between all segments of the industry; cow-calf, feedlot, packers and seedstock producers were all focal points of his efforts. An accomplished speaker with a keen sense of humor, he is in great demand at field days, educational programs and seminars throughout the country. His strong communication skills and sound advice have earned him widespread accolades and respect.

Recently, Ropp left the ASA to start Allied Genetic Resources (AGR). The business, owned and supported by a group of committed seedstock producers, is designed to promote their customers’ profitability. AGR owners are located in 15 states — from California to Alabama and Montana to Texas. Currently, they market more than 4,000 bulls a year. Ropp’s strong belief that the future of seedstock production will become more focused on customer service and increased profitability and less about the tradition of just “selling” bulls forms AGR’s core philosophy.

BIF: Quinn Cow Co. Named Commercial Producer of the Year

Reuben and Connie Quinn, Quinn Cow Co., Chadron, NE,  were named the Commercial Producer of the Year at the 2011 Beef Improvement Federation Conference. Here’s a summary of their operation:

Reuben and Connee Quinn started Quinn Cow Company as a commercial cow/calf operation in 1974 with the purchase of 50 Simmental x Angus cross heifers. The ranch is located primarily on leased land on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota as well as Dawes County in northwestern Nebraska. Currently, Angus x Simmental cows are bred to Angus, Simmental and Angus x Simmental composite bulls to calve in the spring. The goal is to produce a cow with high output and relatively low inputs in a challenging environment compromised by high selenium and sulfate levels in the water and grass. Depending heavily on EPDs for selecting sires with calving ease and moderate milk yet above average growth traits, the Quinns require a cow that produces excellent replacements as well as high performing feeder cattle. Calves are retained through the feedlot phase and typically sold on a carcass merit basis. Feedlot performance and detailed carcass data have been collected on the calf crop for more than 15 years. Thirty percent of the mature cows, all of the replacement heifers and 2nd calf heifers are synchronized and bred artificially. Individual cow records and ranch production are documented for continual management improvement. Measured areas include reproductive performance, weaning percentage per cow exposed, and annual cow cost by line item. A network of experts, in various industry disciplines, is regularly consulted to achieve the Quinn‘s goals of profitability and production criteria.

The Nebraska Cattlemen is proud to nominate the Quinn Cow Company.

Congratulations to the Quinn Cow Co. on winning this prestigious award!

BIF: Williams: Industry’s Made Great Strides; Innovation Needed Moving Forward

3 Key Points:

1. Genetic selection is big reason for 150# increase in dressed carcass weight over the past 35 years
2. Growing world population will continue to demand beef as a source of protein
3. Tools such as genomics and multi-breed data synergies will be a necessity to continue genetic improvement

The Role of Genetic Evaluation Technology in Enhancing Global Competitiveness

Robert Williams, Director of Breed Improvement and Foreign Marketing, American International Charolais Assn., Kansas City, MO, provided his insights on genetic evaluation technologies and their role in enhancing the beef industry’s competitiveness on a global stage. Williams has spent his lifetime in the cattle industry and believes there are more changes coming in the future, with challenges and opportunities embedded in this change.

Williams began by outlining the worldwide population growth. Beef demand has linearly grown with the increase in population. People are searching for a nutrient-rich source of protein. Additionally, as affluence grows abroad, consumers eat more beef. For its sake, the beef industry has kept pace with this demand by increasing cattle performance. Dressed carcass weight has increased 150+ pounds over the past 35 years. This growth has been achieved while simultaneously decreasing birth weight in the U.S. and Canadian populations.

So, the beef industry has made great strides in genetic improvement during the past three decades but what lies ahead? Shrinking public and private budgets cause for concern. Today, the cattle industry needs 400,000 fewer bulls than in 1975. This has caused a direct loss of income (lost registrations) to all U.S. beef breed associations in the amount of $11 million. Further, budget cuts at land grant universities have shifted the research and data calculation burdens to private industry.

Given these challenges and the quest to continue to improve the cattle gene pool to keep up with consumer demand, a very antagonistic situation arises. Genetic selection depends on data collection, compilation, and application in the form of genetic improvement tools such as EPDs. But where does the funding to achieve these tasks come from?

Williams suggests a multi-breed data infrastructure. Multi-breed synergies that allow for cost- and data-sharing will lead to increasingly accurate genetic prediction tools. He also predicts the question surrounding genomics will turn from “Do we use it?” to “How do we use it efficiently?” More accurate data collection and genomic information holds great promise for the industry to continue it’s impressive genetic growth curve. And that’s welcome news for an exponentially growing worldwide appetite.

Question: do you use genomic data to make your genetic selections? Tell us why or why not below!

Limousin Breed’s Megan Rolf Wins Frank Baker Scholarship Award

Megan Rolf (Rolf Limousin, LeRoy, KS) was awarded the Frank Baker Memorial Scholarship at the 2011 Beef Improvement Federation Conference. Rolf is a graduate student at the University of Missouri. Winners of the scholarship are selected from a pool of graduate school students that must write an essay on any topic concerning the genetic improvement in beef cattle. The annual award is valued at $1,000; the essay must not exceed 15 pages in length.

Congratulations to Megan on winning this award!

BIF: Newman: Better Data Infrastructure Needed in Beef Industry

3 Key Points:

1. Collecting data within both purebred & commercial crossbred populations will be crucial
2. Genomic information has potential to alter genetic selection landscape
3. Across-breed data sharing would be beneficial to improving genetic selection tools

The Role of Genetic Evaluation Technology in Enhancing Global Competitiveness

Scott Newman from Genus, PLC, Hendersonville, TN, provided insight with regards to genetic evaluation technologies and their role in enhancing the beef industry’s competitiveness on a global stage. Newman currently works within the swine industry and provided a few observations that would serve the beef industry well.

First, maintaining and improving nucleus (purebred) lines of cattle is imperative to genetic improvement. Collection and registration of this data is a must. Newman emphasized the importance of collecting data on the entire population in order to get the most-accurate information.

Second, collecting commercial crossbred data from the resulting offspring of the nucleus parents will serve to provide an accurate representation of the genetic power existed in the purebred parents. Any efforts to collect this data would be very beneficial. An across-breeds database would allow for higher accuracies and better mating decisions.

Third, genomics has tremendous potential to alter the genetic improvement landscape. It can tell much more about hard-to-measure and low heritability traits such as fertility and disease resistance. It also has the potential to speed up the genetic lag in cattle (typically 6-10 years) by improving the accuracies of EPDs. Genetic lag is the amount of time it takes for genetic improvement to flow from nucleus herds into multiplier purebred and subsequently commercial herds.

In sum, Newman stressed the value of looking at the information feedback systems found in the swine industry. Collecting data from both the purebred and commercial sectors of the business is an integral part of the genetic improvement process. Genomics will assist in collecting hard-to-measure traits; crossbreeding and data collection (e.g. carcass data) from commercial populations is necessary to create genetically-superior future generations.

Questions to ponder: are you collecting all of your herd’s phenotypic data? Are you collecting/requesting your commercial customer’s data? We’d love to hear your answers! Post comments below.

BIF: Picture Gallery

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