News and Announcements
2025 BIF Research Symposium and Convention Registration Open
Registration is now open for the 2025 Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Research Symposium and Convention that will be hosted June 10-13 in Amarillo, Texas. Participants can save $75 if they register by May 9. Full registration before May 9 is $275. This includes two and one-half days of educational programming…
2025 Across-Breed EPD Table and Improvements
by Larry Kuehn and Mark Thallman Across-Breed EPD (ABEPD) Adjustment Factors: National Cattle Evaluation (NCE), and theresulting Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs), have resulted in substantial genetic changesince their inception in the 1970s. However, EPDs are generally only comparable within breedbecause of differences in the genetic base. Since 1993, the U.S….
BIF Award Program Applications Due
Deadlines for Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) award applications are approaching quickly. Each year BIF recognizes a Seedstock Producer of the Year and Commercial Producer of the Year. The deadline for both awards is March 15. Application forms are posted to the BeefImprovement.org. Each BIF member organization is allowed to make…
Utilizing Heart Score and Health Records to Develop a BCHF EPD
“This is a real problem in the industry, which is why we are investing so much into developing selection tools we can use to address the problem,” said Justin Buchanan, PhD, of Simplot Land and Livestock. Buchanan gave his talk, “Associations among BCHF, organ phenotypes, scored in the packing plant…
Using Sexed Semen to Navigate the Genetic Fork in the Road
Some cattle are excelling at rapidly producing a high-quality end product; however, they are usually not the low maintenance females that producers want to have in their cow herd. Similarly, the ideal bull for producing replacement females may not produce high-value feeder or carcass cattle. Rather than focusing our breeding…
Terminal Crossbreeding: A Missed Opportunity
Crossbreeding is one of the most underexploited breeding tools in the beef industry. The industry’s recent push for larger carcass weights while keeping cow costs at a minimum has brought terminal crossbreeding programs to the forefront. Dr. Mark Thallman, a research geneticist from the USDA Meat Animal Research Center in…
Nothing to WOW
Producers share their journey in the beef industry. by Lauren Gatz, BIF communication intern “It was almost like a seven-year internship where we got to make the decisions. We got to make mistakes and figure out what we were doing,” said Lydia Yon about her early experiences in the cattle…
Beef and Dairy Breed Composition Effect on Finished Cattle Heart Scores
“This (heart failure) can occur at any type of operation, at any age, and any level of altitude,” said Isabella Kukor, doctoral candidate at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. Kukor gave her talk, “Heart Score Comparisons between Finished Beef and Beef on Dairy Animals,” during the 2024 Beef Improvement Federation…
With Cow Efficiency #PhenotypeIsKing
“That’s the one driving force in the UK funding and government policy – is how to reduce methane per kilogram of product… a couple of important words there: now and speed. We can’t wait to do it and when we decide to do it, we need to do it fast,”…
The Critical Role of Longevity and Maternal Performance
Insights on the economic impact and sustainability of cow-calf operations by Lauren Gatz, BIF communications intern “The question that was posed to us was why is longevity and maternal performance important? And I think that question is very obvious to this audience, and it’s because both of those have a…