NEWTON - Local beef cattle producers are invited to attend an educational session on crossbreeding of beef cattle at 6:30 PM on Thursday, May 22 at the Agricultural Resources Center in Newton. The program will consist of a presentation by Dr. Larry Cundiff, retired researcher from the US Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska.
Dr. Cundiff was responsible for much of the research on genetic improvement of beef cattle during his time in Nebraska. He helped develop the across breed EPD chart that allows commercial cattlemen to compare animals of different breeds on a genetic merit scale. He has worked with many breed associations to develop new EPD’s that help to predict performance differences between sires. Many of the improvements in beef cattle genetics in the past 20 years can be traced to his work in the industry.
The program will include a brief discussion of the benefits of crossbreeding for commercial cattlemen and a short question and answer session afterwards. Well planned crossbreeding systems are proven to improve heterosis or ”hybrid vigor” and can result in a 12% to 25% improvement in production. Crossbred cows have been proven to live longer, have better reproductive performance and higher milk production than straightbred females. Crossbred calves have been shown to have improved growth and carcass traits of up to 25% over straightbred calves. Heterosis is called the only “free lunch” in the cattle business.
Dr. Cundiff will discuss the attributes and weakness of the various breeds of beef cattle, selecting breeds to improve specific traits, the tools available to identify individuals of specific genetic merit and how to execute a well planned crossbreeding system on operations of various sizes. The program is free and pre-registration is not required. For more information contact the Catawba County Cooperative Extension Office at (828) 465-8240.
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