New herd to advance research in beef industry

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

The federal and Saskatchewan governments are providing $1.1 million to replace the research herd and upgrade research equipment at the Western Beef Development Centre (WBDC) near Lanigan.

WBDC Vice President of Operations Paul Jefferson says the current herd being used for cow-calf research is a commercial, mixed breed herd with a varied background. This can sometimes diminish the certainty of the results drawn from studies done on the cattle, particularly in some of the newer research fields that are becoming increasingly popular with scientific and technological advances.

“As we’ve been discussing more collaborative efforts with producers and our colleagues in the research community, it was identified that a herd with known genetic background would be useful for the type of work that’s going forward into the future, where molecular genetics would be applied to understanding the genotypes of the animals and how this affects their performance and other aspects of beef production,” Jefferson said.

As a result, a funding proposal was submitted to purchase a new purebred herd to be housed at the WBDC. The majority of the $1.1 million will be used to obtain approximately 300 new cows.

“These will be two- and three-year-old cows of known genetic background from a purebred source,” explained Jefferson. “Our intent is to buy 100 cows per year over a three-year period.”

He says this approach will enable the WBDC to wind up its existing research studies already underway using the current herd before they are phased out and replaced with the new animals.

The balance of the funding will go towards facility and equipment improvements necessary to conduct beef research.

Having a herd with a known background and known genetics is a terrific boost to the WBDC’s efforts, Jefferson noted. It will enable researchers to study the effects of various treatments on cattle, and determine with greater certainty that their observations are a result of the treatment rather than some factor in the animal’s genetic history of which they were not aware.

“While it’s difficult to ever draw an absolute, 100-per-cent conclusion, we will be able to pinpoint with greater accuracy what’s causing the difference in the reaction of an animal to the treatment, and make our statements accordingly,” he stated.

With 21,000 producers in the province’s cow-calf industry, Jefferson says the funding is not only good news for cattle research in Saskatchewan, but also for individual farmers.

“So, much of the work we do has a direct, practical application on the farm or ranch. One of the projects we’ve been undertaking looks at low-cost winter feeding. We’ve been able to show that you can reduce the cost of over-wintering a beef cow herd by up to 45 per cent. That’s a significant cost reduction to the commercial cow-calf producer,” he noted.

“So I think the information that will come from this research will continue to have that kind of impact – reducing production and operating costs to the average producer, and improving competitiveness.”

For more information, contact:
Paul Jefferson, Vice President of Operations
Western Beef Development Centre
Phone: (306) 682-3139, ext. 272
E-mail: pjefferson.wbdc@pami.ca