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Dr. Jamie Courter is your Mizzou Beef Genetics Extension Specialist

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By Jared E. Decker Many of you have probably noticed that things have been a lot less active on the A Steak in Genomics™   blog, but you probably haven't known why. In January 2021, I was named the Wurdack Chair in Animal Genomics at Mizzou, and I now focus on research, with a little bit of teaching. I no longer have an extension appointment. But, with exciting news, the blog is about to become a lot more active! Jamie Courter began as the new MU Extension state beef genetics specialist in the Division of Animal Sciences on September 1, 2023. I have known Jamie for several years, meeting her at BIF when she was a Masters student. I have been impressed by Jamie in my interactions with her since that time.  Dr. Courter and I have been working closely together the last 6 weeks, and I am excited to work together to serve the beef industry for years to come! Jamie holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from North Carolina State University and earned a master's degree in animal...
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Directional Selection and Local Adaptation in Beef Cattle

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My group has posted a new preprint on bioRxiv .  You can check it out here:  https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.11.988121 Warning, it is written for a technical audience, not in cowboy terms. So- what are the take-home messages for farmers and ranchers? We can identify the DNA variants responding to your selection decisions. You tend to select cattle that have better immune systems. Hormone production in the ovaries is under selection in Red Angus. Makes sense based on the breed's focus on fertility. Muscle development is under selection in Gelbvieh.  We can identify the DNA variants that lead to cattle adapted to their environment Blood vessel tightening or loosening is under environmental selection. The brain and neuron signaling is an important part of environmental adaptation. We are losing local adaptation in beef cattle. Check out this Twitter thread to see figures from the paper. https://twitter.com/pop_gen_JED/status/1258786262149808131 Regarding the last point, we c...
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CIC 2019: Practical Management to Reduce Disease Challenges

Robin Falkner, DVM, Zoetis Can't manage what we don't measure... Peter Drucker said, " If you can't measure it, you can't improve it. " But if we focus on measuring stuff that doesn't matter, much , then we are managing poorly. Can we consume our way to success? Consumerism is the attitude of "what should I buy?"  Don't go into the trade show as a consumer, go into the trade show as a producer. We too frequently think of a health program as a calendarized list of health practices. Just because everyone believes something doesn't mean it is right. Falkner again used his recipe analogy . We have been looking at recipes for a long time. We need to be developing better cooks. A sound animal health program is built on a foundation of: Managing exposures to pathogens Access to premium markets Let's look at the history of agriculture. Dr. Roger's researched innovation in agriculture in the late 1950s and 1960s. He look...
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Location: New Orleans, LA, USA
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