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LINCOLN — Nebraska is playing a key role in helping shape the future of Hereford genetics.
Research tied to a long-running test herd at Olsen Ranches near Harrisburg, Neb., is giving cattle producers across the country more information on feed efficiency, carcass traits, methane emissions, water intake and other traits that could help guide future breeding decisions.
That Nebraska connection was highlighted during the American Hereford Association Educational Forum, held in conjunction with the 19th World Hereford Conference in Kansas City, Mo.
Tom Field, the Paul Engler Chair of Agribusiness Entrepreneurship at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, helped open the forum by pointing back to a livestock genetics lesson that still applies today.
“It is often believed today that successful breeders have some mysterious method of which others are ignorant. Instead, the principles of the successful breeder have been exceedingly simple. The difficulty lies not so much in knowing the principles as in applying them,” livestock geneticist Sewell Wright wrote in 1920.
Field used the quote to help set the stage for a discussion on current Hereford research, advancements in genetic prediction and the value of collecting accurate data over time.
American Hereford Association officials said objective, collaborative research has long been an important part of breed improvement. Speakers at the forum connected past and present Hereford research, showing how years of steady work have helped create new opportunities for cattle producers.
Mark Enns, the John E. Rouse Chair in animal breeding at Colorado State University, discussed a research project involving CSU, AgNext and the American Hereford Association. The project is looking at three environmental sustainability traits — dry matter intake, methane emission rate and blood urea nitrogen — and how they relate to growth and carcass traits.
“There are genetic differences within the AHA population for both methane emissions and blood urea nitrogen concentration,” Enns said. “If selection pressure is applied, we will see genetic change in those traits.”
Shane Bedwell, American Hereford Association chief operations officer and director of breed improvement, also discussed ongoing research focused on bovine congestive heart failure in late-day feedlot cattle and how Hereford genetics may help reduce that risk.
Bedwell said the new research is possible because Hereford breeders and association leaders have spent years collecting accurate phenotypic data, along with genotypic data.
The association was an early adopter of wholeherd reporting. It remains one of only two breeds in the United States that requires whole-herd reporting for data to be included in the breed’s genetic evaluation.
The Hereford breed is also the only breed in the United States with a genetic proving program designed to compare the genetic merit of young sires in real-world commercial beef cattle production.
That program, the National Reference Sire Program, has its main test herd at Olsen Ranches near Harrisburg.
The Nebraska herd has helped provide a large amount of individual animal dry matter feed intake and carcass data for the Hereford genetic evaluation. Data on methane emissions, nitrogen excretion and individual animal water intake are also collected there. The Olsen herd also provides data related to bovine congestive heart failure.
More than 400 Hereford sires have been tested through the National Reference Sire Program since it began in 1999. Those sires now influence 7 percent of the more than 2 million American Hereford Association performance pedigrees.
“The National Reference Sire Program is simply unrivaled in the data collected and the resource it provides as a major breed improvement tool,” Bedwell said.
