Technology Lag: We Don't Have Time

From Shauna Hermel's Twitter feed, I came across this article about David Buchanan's talk at the 2013 BIF Research Symposium and Convention. Buchanan said,
There is a sizable investment being made in agricultural research, which should result in new technologies, but it takes time for development and adoption, and then for the benefits to be realized. Historically, it takes about 30 years. We don’t have 30 years.
I also see technology adoption as a major shortcoming of the beef industry. This will be a continued theme of this blog and my extension program.

But, in this post I want to discuss the unresolved concern raised in Troy Smith's article. He quotes Buchanan as saying, "“We’ve done pretty well, but we could do better. But better selection tools just get us into trouble faster if we aren’t selecting for the right things.”

Yet, the article does not suggest what are the "right things". In your experience and based on scientific information, what are the right things?

Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
(I have turned off word verification, so it should be easier to comment on the blog. If spam gets out of control, I'll have to turn word verification back on.)

After you have left a comment, click on the button below to see my thoughts.



3 comments

Popular posts from this blog

ARSBC 2018: EPDs and Reasonable Expectations in Commercial Crossbred Operations

Image
Jared Decker, PhD
University of Missouri
One point must be clear from the very beginning: EPDs work. When we select parents based on EPDs the genetic merit for that trait increases in our herd. When we select the parents using EPDs the performance of the next generation improves. EPDs Defined EPD stands for Expected Progeny Difference. These three words are loaded with meaning, thus the need to define them here. The most loaded word is Expected. Here we use Expected the way a statistician would use the word. Expected means we are making a prediction of a future value. But, in this context, Expected also means we are describing the average of a group. What is the group for which we are predicting the average? We are predicting the average performance of the Progeny or calves out of an animal. An animal’s own performance and its EPD can be quite different, because that is not the purpose of an EPD. The EPD is predicting the average performance of that animal’s calf crop. Finally, EPDs are u…
Read more

Do You Own Your Job or a Business? Are You Working for a Lunatic?

Image
David Pratt
Presentation at Southwest Missouri Spring Forage Conference 

 Ranch Management Consultants Inc. runs two programs, The Ranching For Profit School and the Executive Link.

"When we work for ourselves, we work at what we are good at." Pratt says. We are doing the $10 an hour job. However, we may be leaving the $100,000 per hour job undone.

Most ranches are likely losing money.

Pratt encourages the audience to subscribe to the Ranching for Profit blog.


What letter is most different?

b? c? d? q?

Look again:


What about the t?

We see things through the lens of our expectations.

What if the t is a threat? What if you didn't even see it? What if the t is an opportunity? It is a lot easier to see threats and opportunities at your neighbor's operation.

Too often, we wait till we are out of time and money to make changes.
We hear the phrase, "If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you've always got." But, in the cattle business…
Read more

Neogen launches upgraded Igenity® Beef Profile

Commercial beef producers will get more traits and selection index tools in the upgraded Igenity® Beef profile.
The Igenity Beef Profile will offer 16 traits for $29, replacing Neogen’s 13-trait Igenity Gold ($40) and 6-trait Igenity Silver ($25) tests. The upgrade includes new predictions for weaning weight, yearling weight and hot carcass weight for a total of 16 traits scored on a 1–10 scale, plus two new selection indexes.
“Our customers will be getting a powerful new profile at even greater value,” said Dr. Stewart Bauck, vice president of agrigenomics at Neogen. “The Igenity profile was designed and validated for crossbred or straightbred cattle with backgrounds of Angus, Red Angus, Simmental, Hereford, Limousin and Gelbvieh.
“Most DNA profiles are breed-specific,” Bauck continued. “The novel design of Igenity Beef allows for the accurate prediction of performance in both crossbred or straightbred cattle among the target breeds. This lets cow-calf producers use a DNA profile to …
Read more