A Steak in Genomics™

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, wh...

Real-world research utilizing crossbreeding has led to documented real-world results in hybrid female demand compared to straight-bred females. During the recent Circle A Ranch Sale Oct. 19, 29 black-baldie heifers averaged $2,960, and the top-selling lot was black-baldie heifers bred with heifer-calf-confirmed pregnancies at $3,450 each. The average price paid for the 269 straight-bred Angus heifers was $2,431. That’s a crossbred advantage of $529 per head in price. In 2007 Circle A Ranch, Iberia, Mo., began a research project with the American Hereford Association (AHA) designed to determine and measure the advantages of using Hereford genetics on commercial Angus cows. Results from the project documented the Hereford efficiency advantage with a 7% increase in conception rate along with improved feed efficiency and average daily gain. Utilizing the Circle A data, economist Vern Pierce developed an economic model which projected that over a 10-year period, using Hereford bulls on An...