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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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BIF 2016: Effects of timing and duration of test period and diet type on intake and feed efficiency

Dan Shike
University of Illinois

The correlation between the growing dry matter intake (DMI) and finishing dry matter intake was 0.56. This means 56% of the variation is shared between the two feeding periods.

Average daily gain is not that repeatable. The correlation between average daily gain in the growing period and the finishing period is only 0.11.

However, residual feed intake (RFI), a measure of efficiency, is  repeatable between feeding periods, with a correlation of 0.63.

Using 35 days on feed accounts for about 95% of the variation in feed intake from a 70 day feeding trial.

Intake seems to be very repeatable across stages of life and on different diets.

The residual feed intake (RFI) repeatability was 0.42 when comparing a forage diet to a grain diet.

Intake is repeatable. Gain is not repeatable between test periods.
Shorter duration intakes are strongly correlated to total feeding period intake.
Intake of forage is correlated to intake of grain, furthermore efficiency is also correlated between forage and grain diets.
This implies that intake and efficiency in the feedlot may have application to a cow-calf scenario.

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Hereford and Red Angus Heifers Recruited for Genomics Research

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