“The ARS Grand Challenge is a collaborative project designed to meet multiple goals including improve production efficiency, reduce environmental impact, encourage sustainable production, and focus on integrated research programs” said Dr. Larry Kuehn, research leader at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Nebraska. Kuehn gave his presentation Results from the ARS Beef Grand Challenge – examining genotype x management interactions using the germplasm evaluation program during the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Symposium June 12 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Project background
The overarching objective is to provide all segments of beef production with the genetic and management knowledge to optimize genetic x environment x management x product interactions. By doing so, Kuehn and colleagues aim to ultimately increase production efficiency of high quality, safe and healthy beef products with reduced environmental impact. To investigate these complex interactions, animals from the USMARC near Clay Center, Nebraska, were sent to other ARS locations including: Miles City, Montana, El Reno, Oklahoma, Nunn, Colorado, and Woodward, Oklahoma. Each location had different management programs that the stocker calves were exposed to. Through this design the researchers were able to quantify the degree to which breeds/sires differed across geographical locations and management practices.
Initial results
The researchers compared differences among the breeds at each location for backgrounding average daily gain (ADG), finishing ADG, carcass weight, marbling, fat depth and slice shear force. Although there were examples where breed differences were relatively robust, there were examples of re-ranking.
“These results provide an opportunity for the beef genetics community to consider the target production environment of our genetic predictions” Kuehn concludes.
USMARC is a unique and highly valuable resource that is capable of tackling challenging projects such as the Grand Challenge to benefit the entire cattle industry.
To watch the full presentation, visit https://youtu.be/CcdRG0bVBlY. For more information about this year’s Symposium and the Beef Improvement Federation, including additional presentations and award winners, visit BIFSymposium.com.