Meat Science Commons^™

De-Commoditizing The Feeder Calf Market: Providing Objective Information To Buyers, Tom Brink, Lee Leachman

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Beef is no longer a commodity as it is presented to consumers. Name brands and greater differentiation are everywhere. Fed cattle aren’t really a commodity either. Close to 70% of all fed cattle are sold on grids and formulas, which price these animals individually, according to their actual carcass value. Commercial bulls have been de-commoditized for years. Bulls in all major breeds are now sold with a plethora of specific and detailed information (even videos on individual animals) that allows prospective buyers to evaluate and compare bulls in a detailed and sophisticated manner, similar to how we might compare pickup …

The Focus My Millennial Generation Needs, Cassie Lapaseotes

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Generations

It’s no question that in today’s job market there are a variety of challenges especially when it comes to managing a workforce with multiple generations. The underlying problem especially in agriculture is trying to fit an increasingly nontraditional workforce into a largely traditional workplace. Each generation has been influenced by particular experiences that create specific preferences, expectations, beliefs, and work styles. It is important to understand characteristics of each generation to be successful in today’s workplace.

Incorporating A Yearling Stocker Enterprise To The Cow/Calf Operation: Buy, Sell, Or Hold?, Mark Frasier

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Many progressive cow/calf producers have considered adding a yearling stocker enterprise to their business model. There are significant benefits to diversification; yearling cattle can help to optimize available forage and balance the financial viability of a livestock operation. At the same time however, managing the dynamics of a secondary enterprise will add complexity and potentially elevate risk to the combined operation. The added dimension of market livestock will help a ranch utilize their forage resources more efficiently, but yearling cattle have different needs than cows and different objectives and require a dissimilar skill set than required to successfully wean a …

Effects Of Grazing On Grass, Casey A. Matney

Range Beef Cow Symposium

What is grazing? Grazing is the consumption of herbaceous plants by herbivores. Herbaceous plants include forbs (non-woody broadleaf flowering plants), grasses, and grass-like plants (sedges and rushes). Probably the most important and most identifiable herbaceous plant for grazing is grass (Family – Poaceae). There are well over 100 species of grass present on the rangelands of eastern Colorado, and approximately 10,000 grass species can be found across the globe. Grasses account for about a quarter of the earth’s vegetation and make up the preponderance of food (plant parts and seed) for both people and grazing animals. Management of grasses is …

Managing Compromised And Weak Calves, Franklyn B. Garry, Jason E. Lombard

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Take Home Messages

Many things can cause calves to be weak at birth, but dystocia is the single most common cause of compromised calves. Calves born without assistance experience hypoxia (low arterial blood oxygen), acidosis, and frequently hypothermia. Dystocia calves experience the same changes but to a greater degree. Dystocia has an immediate and prolonged effect on the health and productivity of calves. Perinatal mortality due to weakness and dystocia accounts for about half of all calf deaths through weaning and is not due to infectious disease. Simple interventions such as providing calves with mechanical breathing assistance, oxygen, colostrum, and …

High Altitude Disease, Pap, Feedlot Hypertension, And Respiratory Issues, J. M. Neary, F. B. Garry, T. N. Holt, G. M. Krafsur, P. S. Morley, R. D. Brown, K. R. Stenmark, R. Mark Enns, M. G. Thomas

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Right-heart failure (RHF) due to pulmonary hypertension, more commonly known as brisket disease or high altitude disease, is a complex disease that is becomingly increasing problematic for the cattle industry–regardless of altitude. The disease became known as high altitude disease because until the mid-1960s RHF was only reported at altitudes over 7,000 ft. Today, RHF is still problematic in high altitude cow-calf operations and is occurring with increasing incidence in feedlot cattle. The clinical signs are commonly mistaken for chronic pneumonia, which complicates disease diagnosis and reporting. Moreover, cattle treated for pneumonia have 2 to 3 times greater risk of …

How To Use Commercially Available Genomic Predictions, Michael G. Gonda

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Genomic predictions for commercial cattle can be used to select replacement heifers, design mating strategies, and market calves. Presently, two companies (Igenity and Zoetis) offer genomic tests for commercial cattle. Like expected progeny differences (EPDs) on young bulls, these genomic tests do not perfectly predict genetic merit. However, these tests will be useful for identifying genetically superior and inferior animals for the traits tested. Some tests are useful only for predominantly Black Angus (≥ 75%) cattle, while other tests can be used on all Bos taurus beef breeds and crossbreds. Further, some tests are designed specifically for producers who are …

Mentoring And Managing Employees To Ensure Husbandry And Assure Consumers, Tracey Erickson

Range Beef Cow Symposium

Building your team…

1. Share Purpose, Mission and Vision
2. Train Employees – onboarding
3. Communicate and Evaluate
4. Include employees – farm planning and direction
5. Celebrate Success

Cow Supplementation: Getting The Best Bang For Your Buck, Ken Olson

Range Beef Cow Symposium

How do we get the best bang for the buck?

• 2 aspects:

1. Biology: Use the right feeds to provide the right nutrients
2. Economics: price the best feeds to provide the right nutrients

Vegfa: Just One Of Multiple Mechanisms For Sex-Specific Vascular Development Within The Testis?, Kevin M. Sargent, Renee M. Sargent, Renata Spuri Gomes, Andrea S. Cupp

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Testis development from an indifferent gonad is a critical step in embryogenesis. A hallmark of testis differentiation is sex-specific vascularization which occurs as endothelial cells migrate from the adjacent mesonephros into the testis to surround Sertoli-germ cell aggregates and induce seminiferous cord formation. Many in vitro experiments have demonstrated that Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGFA) is a critical regulator of this process. Both inhibitors to VEGFA signal transduction and excess VEGFA isoforms in testis organ cultures impaired vascular development and seminiferous cord formation. However, in vivo models using mice which selectively eliminated all VEGFA isoforms: in Sertoli and germ …

Evaluating Equations Estimating Change In Swine Feed Intake During Heat And Cold Stress, R. R. White, P. S. Miller, M. D. Hanigan

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

The objectives of this study were to evaluate heat stress feed intake models for growing swine using a data set assembled from the literature and to develop a series of new equations modeling the influence of the thermal environment and interactions between the thermal environmental and other factors on feed intake. A literature survey was conducted to identify studies assessing intake responses to temperature. The resulting data set comprised 35 studies containing 120 comparisons to thermoneutral intake. Intake as a fraction of thermoneutral intake (FFI) was the primary response variable, where a value of 1 represented no change from thermoneutral …

Antioxidant Effect Of Spent, Ground, And Lyophilized Brew From Roasted Coffee In Frozen Cooked Pork Patties, Katrina Maryse Malixi Jully, Criselda Toto, Lilian Were

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

The ability of light and dark roasted coffee (1 g/kg) in varying application forms (spent ground [SCG], whole ground [WGC], or lyophilized brew [LBC]) to inhibit lipid and protein oxidation in cooked pork patties stored at −18 °C was monitored over 3 months. Malondialdehyde (MDA) for the negative control (NC) increased from 0.31 to 1.11 mg MDA/kg pork over 3 months, while pork with coffee or rosemary oleoresin had lower values at month 3 (0.054–0.40 mg MDA/kg pork). The NC had the highest values for hexanal, octanal, and nonanal (2.59, 0.10, and 0.13 mg/kg pork, respectively), while light and dark …

A Tail Of Two Phages: Genomic And Functional Analysis Of Listeria Monocytogenes Phages Vb_Lmos_188 And Vb_Lmos_293 Reveal The Receptor-Binding Proteins Involved In Host Specificity, Aidan Casey, Kieran Jordan, Horst Neve, Aidan Coffey, Olivia Mcauliffe

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

The physical characteristics of bacteriophages establish them as viable candidates for downstream development of pathogen detection assays and biocontrol measures. To utilize phages for such purposes, a detailed knowledge of their host interaction mechanisms is a prerequisite. There is currently a wealth of knowledge available concerning Gram-negative phage-host interaction, but little by comparison for Gram-positive phages and Listeria phages in particular. In this research, the lytic spectrum of two recently isolated Listeria monocytogenes phages (vB_LmoS_188 and vB_LmoS_293) was determined, and the genomic basis for their observed serotype 4b/4e host-specificity was investigated using comparative genomics. The late tail genes of these …

Prediction Of Plant Height In Arabidopsis Thaliana Using Dna Methylation Data, Yaodong Hu, Gota Morota, Guilherme J. M. Rosa, Daniel Gianola

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Prediction of complex traits using molecular genetic information is an active area in quantitative genetics research. In the postgenomic era, many types of -omic (e.g., transcriptomic, epigenomic, methylomic, and proteomic) data are becoming increasingly available. Therefore, evaluating the utility of this massive amount of information in prediction of complex traits is of interest. DNA methylation, the covalent change of a DNA molecule without affecting its underlying sequence, is one quantifiable form of epigenetic modification. We used methylation information for predicting plant height (PH) in Arabidopsis thaliana nonparametrically, using reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHS) regression. Also, we used different criteria for …

Effect Of Aging Time And Retail Displaying Period With A Short-Term Temperature Abuse On Color Stability Of Two Beef Muscles, Derico Setyabrata, Hyun-Wook Kim, Yuan H. Brad Kim

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Meat color and tenderness are two most important quality factors affecting consumers’ decision on meat purchasing. Post-mortem meat aging has been widely practiced to improve palatability attributes, but could be adversely related to meat color. In particular, temperature abuse during aging or retail display can negatively affect the color stability of aged meat. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of aging time and short-term temperature abuse during display on color stability of two beef muscles (M. longissimus dorsi, LD and semitendinosus, ST). LD and ST muscles were separated from three beef carcasses, vacuum-packaged …

Evaluation Of Reduced Subsets Of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms For The Prediction Of Age At Puberty In Sows, Katherine L. Lucot, Matthew L. Spangler, Melanie D. Trenhaile, Stephen D. Kachman, Daniel C. Ciobanu

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Genomic information could be used efficiently to improve traits that are expensive to measure, sex limited or expressed late in life. This study analyzed the phenotypic variation explained by major SNPs and windows for age at puberty in gilts, an indicator of reproductive longevity. A genome-wide association study using 56,424 SNPs explained 25.2% of the phenotypic variation in age at puberty in a training set (n = 820). All SNPs from the top 10% of 1-Mb windows explained 33.5% of the phenotypic variance compared to 47.1% explained by the most informative markers (n = 261). In an evaluation population, consisting …

Dietary Strategies For Mitigation Of Methane Production By Growing And Finishing Cattle, Anna C. Pesta

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Interest in reducing methane (CH₄) emissions by cattle has increased recently. Loss of feed energy as CH₄ represents both an environmental concern and an energetic loss to the animal. Manipulation of dietary composition has proven to be an effective mitigation strategy. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of several dietary characteristics on CH₄ production in growing and finishing cattle, and to develop a novel, non-invasive method for quantifying emissions from animals in a production setting. Short-term gaseous emissions of CH₄ and carbon dioxide (CO₂) were measured and the CH₄:CO_{2 …}

Meat Quality Of Broiler Breast Fillets With White Striping And Woody Breast Muscle Myopathies, Vishwesh Vijay Tijare

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The global poultry industry has been faced with emerging broiler breast meat quality issues known as white striping and woody breast. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate effects of white striping and woody breast hardness on meat quality traits in broiler breast fillets. Birds were processed at 8 wk (Exp.1) and at 6 and 9 wk of age (Exp.2), whereas deboning was carried out at 4 and 2 h postmortem in Exp.1 and 2, respectively. Fillets were categorized as: normal for both white striping and woody breast (NORM); mild for white striping and woody breast (MILD); severe for white striping …

Early Weaning Reduces Rangeland Herbage Disappearance, Patricia Johnson, Kenneth C. Olson, Roger N. Gates, Hubert H. Patterson, Mindy Hubert, Douglas Landbloom, Janna J. Kincheloe, Heather A. Richter, Allison V. Grove

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Early weaning of beef calves reduces nutrient and forage demand in a cow–calf enterprise, potentially contributing to reduction in forage utilization on the pasture from which calves are removed by a nonlactating cow vs. a cow–calf pair. Research was conducted to evaluate weaning beef calves 90 days early (EW) vs. normal weaning (NW) on pasture herbage disappearance in mixed-grass prairie pastures in the northern Great Plains. Spring-calving cows (n = 48) were utilized in each study year (2003, 2004, and 2006) from the date of early weaning (August) until the date of normal weaning (November). Cow–calf pairs were randomly …

Activity Of The Porcine Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor Gene Promoter Is Partially Conferred By A Distal Gonadotrope Specific Element (Gse) Within An Upstream Enhancing Region, Two Proximal Gses And A Retinoid X Receptor Binding Site, Rebecca Cederberg, Jacqueline Smith, Emily A. Mcdonald, Chanho Lee, Amy R. Perkins, Brett R. White

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Background: Regulation of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor (GnRHR) numbers on gonadotropes within the anterior pituitary gland represents a critical point for control of reproductive function. Binding of GnRH to its receptor regulates follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) release and levels of this G-protein coupled receptor on the surface of gonadotropes determines their sensitivity to GnRH pulses. While transcriptional regulation of this gene has been studied in mice, rats, humans and sheep, little is known about its regulation in the pig, an important agricultural species and human research model.

Methods: We isolated 5118 bp of 5′ flanking …