A Steak in Genomics™

DENVER - The bustling ballrooms of Kalispell, Montana, will soon be filled with innovative and forward-thinking cattlemen and women during the 69th annual National Red Angus Convention. The Commercial Cattlemen’s Symposium, hosted by the Red Angus Association of America, is sure to be a highlight of the convention and will offer beef producers the tools and knowledge they need to strengthen their operations and improve their profitability. This year’s symposium, held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kalispell on Wednesday, Sept. 14, will feature a diverse, experienced group of speakers guaranteed to offer valuable insight to attendees. “We are thrilled to continue offering commercial cattlemen and women free educational events during the annual National Red Angus Convention. As the Commercial Marketing Team, it is always exhilarating to bring so many commercial operations – our customers – together for this event. Red Angus has always been focused on the cow, and with the release of our new...

Figure 1 from Durbin et al. 2020. We recently posted a preprint (a research publication that has not yet been peer reviewed) to the bioRxiv server. You can read the article here:  https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.21.109553   *Update: Peer-reviewed, published paper is available open-access here:  https://gsejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12711-020-00584-0  "Development of a genetic evaluation for hair shedding in American Angus cattle to improve thermotolerance" This manuscript describes our work with Angus breeders and Angus Genetics Inc. to create a hair shedding EPD for the American Angus Association. We learned a lot of cool things about hair shedding in this paper. Including how hair shedding is related to other traits and how hair shedding is related to the environment. 1) Negative Relationship Between Milk and Growth Something interesting to me was to learn more about the genetic correlation between weaning weight direct and weaning weight maternal...

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...

Brandon Smythe New Mexico State University Three species Smythe works on: Horn flies Stable flies House flies House flies become an issue when we upset our neighbors. Dairy in New Mexico dealt with litigation from their neighbors. Everyone knows that flies are horrible. Both horn fly males and females feed on blood. Horn flies feed 30 to 40 times a day. Stable flies feed once or twice and then find a place to rest. Horn flies almost never leave a cow. Only time they leave is to lay eggs on a manure patch. There can be 200 to 1000 flies per animal. Flies are reproductively efficient. Flies lay 10 to 200 viable eggs per female. This reproduction efficiency allows for population surges. Horn flies are a warm weather pest, thus during cattle breeding and growing. Flies go dormant in winter months. Horn flies reduce performance in feed efficiency, growth and milk production. Horn flies are number one in causing production losses. We see a $5 to $8 return for every $1 ...

Ky Pohler Texas A&M University Pohler will discuss many different methods of pregnancy diagnosis. Producers need to find a method that works for them. When do cows experience pregnancy loss? 95% of time fertilization occurs. By day 28, pregnancy has dropped to 70%, a 25% loss of pregnancies. This is referred to as early embryonic loss. By day 42, we lose 8% more pregnancies, the pregnancy rate is now around 62%. This is late embryonic loss. Cows all cost the same to manage. If they don't have a calf or have a calf born late in the calving season, they cost us money. Knowing pregnancy status of the herd helps make management decisions. They can help with drought management (sell open cows) and marketing decisions. Pregnancy diagnosis also helps us evaluate bull or semen fertility and breeding program success. Pregnancy diagnosis doesn't cost a lot, but provides a great economic benefit. What is the ideal pregnancy test? High sensitivity (correctly identify...

Eric Scholljegerdes New Mexico State University The number one limiting nutrient on rangeland, whether in a drought or winter, is going to be crude protein. We are feeding two organisms when we are feeding a beef cow. First is the rumen microbes. The second is the cow. We see improvement in low-quality forage intake in response to crude protein supplementation. However, in a drought year this can be an issue. When grass availability is limited, we don't want to waste that resource. This is when a conservative stocking rate comes into play. If forage crude protein is above 8%, we probably don't need to supplement protein as intake is not going to increase. If crude protein is above 8%, we may want to supplement energy instead. Increase in protein allows the bacteria in the rumen to more completely digest the fiber in the diet. By-pass protein provides key amino acids. Non-structural forms of energy, e.g. starch from cereal grains causes a substitution effect. Non-...

Sandy Johnson Kansas State University There are 365 days in a year. There are 283 days of gestation, plus or minus. We have 82 days to get a cow cycling and breed. Kansas State University and Iowa Beef Center have put together 3 versions of the Estrus Synchronization Planner, Excel, mobile, and multi-group. The sync planner is freely available at http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/estrussynch.html . In the tool, you select the type of protocol you are using (estrus detection, estrus detection with clean up AI, and fixed-time AI). The mobile version is available at www.estrussynch.com . They also have a multi-group version of the Excel estrus synchronization planner. It is important to enable macros within the Excel program so the sheet can work. This allows you to have two groups of heifers, or a group of heifers and a group of cows. This allows you to print out a calendar. The estrus planner also produces a supply list. The estrus planner is focused on the few weeks of br...

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....

Written by Jackson Barry. Canton, MO, Canton FFA, Shamrock 4-H in Clark County To me, being a beef breeder in the 21st century means using every tool on the belt of the cattle industry. The goal? Produce the highest quality, most efficient cattle. Genetics is our biggest asset, because even the best management cannot overcome inferior quality. I will elaborate on the many potentials for higher production and profit through better genetics, record keeping, use of technology, and effective management. First, genetics. We can and will select those cattle who produce the most for the least. To be more specific, instead of looking at output per cow, we must look at output per unit of land, as in pounds of beef that make it to the rail compared with acres used. The fact is, a larger cow will often produce more than her smaller contemporary. However, if we step back and see the big picture, we can run more moderate sized cattle on a given pasture than larger cows. Also, it has been prove...

Position: Assistant Extension Professor of Animal Sciences, non-tenure track 100% Extension Responsibilities: The person is expected to develop a nationally recognized education and engagement program in cow-calf production with emphasis on reproduction and management of the beef cow. This includes training regional extension livestock specialists, veterinarians and veterinary students, and allied industry personnel, interacting with cattle producers and agribusiness firms, and providing support for the National Center for Applied Reproduction and Genomics in Beef Cattle. Qualifications: The individual must have a Ph.D. in Animal Science and an extensive knowledge of the beef cattle industry. Experience with and a strong interest in working with beef cattle producers and allied industries is necessary. Must be able to interact and collaborate effectively with faculty in reproductive biology and genomics. Location: The Division of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columb...

Eric Bailey, MU Extension beef nutrition specialist , discusses winter nutrition for beef cows. One of the practices that we see commonly in Nebraska, but less so in Missouri, is grazing corn stalks. Dr. Bailey discusses opportunities and limitations of this practice. Recorded at the MU CAFNR  Thompson Research Center Field Day, September 21, 2017. Loading...

Denton, Texas — Cattlemen and women frequently ask if DNA scores are truly predictive of phenotypic results. A recent study completed by the Red Angus Association gathered DNA data on a set of Red Angus calves and followed the cattle through harvest, collecting phenotypic data. The results illustrated the Igenity® DNA scores accurately predicted carcass weight, marbling score and overall carcass value. The cattle were raised and owned by Bob and Elaine Yackley of Onida, South Dakota, and fed at a custom feed yard. A total of 91 head of 2015-born steers comprised the group that was DNA tested with Igenity Silver and followed through harvest to obtain carcass data on each individual animal. The top 25 head with the highest DNA scores for Average Daily Gain (ADG) and marbling were compared to the bottom 25 head, which exhibited the lowest combined DNA scores for the same two traits. Summarized results for the two groups are shown in the table. This comparative analysis reveals that ...

Dr. Dave Lalman Oklahoma State University Lalman points out that we have made tremendous change for post weaning growth. Right now finished cattle weights are increasing at a rate of 9.4 pounds per year. Carcass weights are increasing by 5.7 pounds per year. Marbling has also increased over time. Compared with 1995, we have seen fewer yield grade 1s and 2s, but we have seen more yield grade 4s and 5s. The number of yield grade 3s has increased from 34.2% to 46.7%. The cow-calf sector and the entire industry have responded for the need for increased post-weaning performance and carcass quality. The increase in calf prices has increased by $5.25 per hundred weight (cwt) per year. The increase in costs has increase by $5 per year. Profitability appears to not have changed that much. Lalman discussed analyses by Pendell and coworkers published in 2015, in which they analyzed Kansas Farm Management Association data. The data had information from 79 operations with data from 201...

The Thompson Research Center Field Day will be held on Tuesday September 15, 2015 at the research center in Spickard. I will be discussing the use of genomics predictions in registered and commercial heifers. In addition to my talk and demonstration, there will be information on reproduction, nutrition and forages, antibiotic labeling, economics, and timber sales. In the survey below, let me know what topics or questions you would like addressed in my presentation. For those of you in Northwest Missouri, I would love to see you there. Loading...

Reprinted with permission of the Missouri Angus Trails In the summer of 2014 we held a Cattlemen’s Boot Camp at the University of Missouri with support from the Angus Foundation and the American Angus Association. Why did we hold this boot camp? First of all, we take every opportunity to work with good people, and when we were approached by the folks at the Angus Association, we jumped at the opportunity to host the event. But, more importantly we wanted to host this event to encourage cattle producers from across the region to embrace recent and emerging advancements in science and technology. In the United States it has become popular to distrust or outright dismiss a scientific perspective. We see this trend on the nightly news, in print articles, and on social media. People from all walks of life, from all political parties, and all levels of economic achievement choose not to accept as fact certain topics for which science has reached a consensus. This attitude of rejecting...

For those of you who follow my Twitter feed , you know I have been a little disgruntled about a paper that appeared in PNAS earlier this week. I think this paper may be the motivation behind a new documentary called " Cowspiracy " that Amanda Radke reported about on Monday. Jude Capper (a.k.a Bovidiva ) really takes this paper to tasks and points out some serious flaws in the analysis. In addition to ignoring beef's benefits as a source of nutrients such as iron and B vitamins, the habitat that ranches create for livestock, and the ability to turn arid rangeland into food, the authors also miss that cattlemen can be an ally to conservationists. But, Jude Capper and other have sufficiently defended the beef industry. In this post, I want to take this opportunity for us as a beef industry to collectively take a look in the mirror. What do we need to learn from this research? Despite errors in the analysis, should the beef industry decrease its use of feed grains? P...

Clay Mathis King Ranch Institute for for Ranch Management Good managers make a multitude of small decisions to keep costs low relative to the cattle they produce and market. But, excellent managers do the same and also find leverage in the production system. These excellent managers make strategic changes that have a systematic impact on their operation. From the SPA data , Mathis shows that the average operation loses money. But, the top quarter of operations make $169 while the bottom quarter of operations lose $308. These bottom quarter have out of control spending and low performance and income. Weaning percentage did not vary dramatically between the top and bottom operations.The top operations are weaning 60 more pounds on average, likely due to older calves from a controlled breeding system and better genetic merit for growth. Increasing weaning weight percentage by 1 percentage unit increases profit by $6 per cow. Labor, depreciation, and feed were the largest expenses in...