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Hereford and Red Angus Heifers Recruited for Genomics Research

The University of Missouri is recruiting 2,500 Hereford heifers and 2,500 Red Angus heifers to participate in a heifer puberty and fertility genomic research project. Heifers should be registered Hereford, registered Red Angus, or commercial Hereford or Red Angus. Hereford x Red Angus crossbred heifers targeted for the Premium Red Baldy Program would also be a good fit for the research project. Producers must be willing to work with a trained veterinarian to collect the following data: ReproductiveTract Scores collected at a pre-breeding exam 30 to 45 days prior to the start of the breeding season. PelvicMeasurements (height and width) collected at the same pre-breeding exam 30 to 45 days prior to the start of the breeding season. Pregnancy Determination Using Ultrasound reporting fetal age in days. Ultrasound will need to occur no later than 90 days after the start of the breeding season. In addition, heifers must have known birth dates and have weights recorded eithe
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2015 NBCEC Brown Bagger Series Kicks Off

by Jeffrey Beall
The 2015 National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium Brown Bagger series kicked off today. The Brown Bagger is a webinar discussing beef cattle genetics every Wednesday in October at 12:00 Central time. While we've already missed today's webinar, no fear there are more great presentations coming up. Plus, recordings of today's webinar will be available online in the coming weeks.

The theme for this year's series is "Advancing genetic selection in beef cattle: Improving current tools and developing new ones."

The following presentations are scheduled:

Oct 7 Advancements in National Cattle Evaluation Strategies
Host, Dr. Matt Spangler

  • Latest changes to national cattle evaluation systems—Dr. Bob Weaber, Kansas State University
  • Across Breed EPD and multi-breed genetic evaluation developments—Dr. Larry Kuehn, USDA-ARS-US-Meat Animal Research Center


Oct 14 Beef Cattle Fertility Project and Sequencing Effort Update
Host, Dr. Darrh Bullock

  • Update on USDA Fertility Project—Dr. Megan Rolf, Oklahoma State University
  • What we have learned from sequencing efforts to date—Dr. Jared Decker, University of Missouri


Oct 21 New Beef Improvement Federation Guidelines: Development Update
Host, Dr. Matt Spangler

  • Beef Improvement Federation Feed Intake Guidelines Update—Dr. Mark Enns, Colorado State University
  • Beef Improvement Federation Bovine Respiratory Disease Guidelines Update—Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam, University of California-Davis


Oct 28 Genomically Enhanced EPD Evaluations and New Genetics Educational Resources
Host, Dr. Bob Weaber

  • Status update on genomically enhanced genetic evaluation by breeds—Dr. Matt Spangler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • eBEEF: a beef cattle breeding and genetics resource for producers on eXtension—Dr. Darrh Bullock, University of Kentucky
  • 2016 Beef Improvement Federation Annual Meeting Invite—Dr. Bob Weaber, Kansas State University


If you will be watching the live webinars (not the recordings) please register online via https://kstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_etHw1WTZttuldIx.

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