During the recent Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Symposium, Dr. Larry Kuehn, research leader at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Nebraska, provided results from the ARS Grand Challenge, a collaborative project designed to meet multiple goals including improve production efficiency, reduce environmental impact, encourage sustainable production, and focus on integrated research programs.

The overarching objective of the project was 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 aimed 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 said. 

The full presentation can be viewed here.