CALF_News_April_May_2018

27 CALF News • April | May 2018 • www.calfnews.net Feeding the new Frontier DiamonD nutrition (806) 716-6222 info@conestogaenergy.com High Protein! High Energy! All Natural! Crude Protein 28.0% Crude Fat 9.5% Crude Fiber 10.0% Phosphorus 0.5% Guaranteed analysis minimum “We could be breeding cattle in the future that are hill climbers and will graze hillsides versus riparian areas because that is their genetic predisposi- tion,” Radakovich says.“This is where BIF fits in with issues such as animal welfare, animal behavior, etc., especially with genomics. If we can isolate the gene that determines grazing habits, then it will have a big impact.” According to Enns, BIF will help guide the industry in how we use, validate and verify the rapidly evolving genomic pipeline and put these new traits to use. Regional evaluation will be a big thing in the future, including the development of regional EPDs and development of specialized adaptability traits. Scientific attention to these traits has been coming for the past 5-10 years and is now becoming more important for regions of the world where climate, adaptability, disease tolerance and feed efficiency are big issues. “Genetic evaluation may help us bal- ance the competing needs of global beef production with sustainability and con- servation,” Enns says.“The United States is a first-world country and our needs are different than those in third-world countries who are simply concerned with finding a protein product to eat. Under- standing these competing visions and how genetic tools can be used to address these visions is important.” Radakovich agrees.“The population increase of today and tomorrow poses a great threat to resources and, as beef producers, we have to figure out how we can remain sustainable under this pres- sure that gets worse and worse all the time. We must be adaptable with fewer and fewer resources. Our big advantage that is cattle are ruminants and can con- sume feedstuffs that can’t be consumed and converted by other protein sources.” Genomics and genetic advancements will also allow commercial producers to concentrate on other issues.“If a com- mercial operation is doing well geneti- cally, then they can move on to address some of the larger, industry concerns such as environmental issues, food safety and animal welfare. A good manager can only handle a few topics at a time and if their genetics are solid, then they can worry about the other concerns,” Radakovich says. Matt Spangler, Ph.D., associate pro- fessor of animal science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has a broader view. “Genetic evaluation will change such that ‘seedstock’ will drift further and fur- ther away from ‘purebred,’” Spangler says. “The data used to inform genetic merit will be weighted more heavily towards commercial-level data. The entities par- ticipating in data generation for genetic evaluation and seedstock production will change such that there is more alignment between the end-product and germ- plasm at the nucleus level. The general nature of breed associations, and their role, will change. I’m not sure if these changes occur in 10 or 50 years, but they will occur.” Elevating the industry The 2018, 50th Anniversary BIF Symposium promises to address all this and more. Continued on page 41 