Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is back talking with the president of Angus Gentics, Inc. (AGI), Kelli Retallick-Riley, about genomic progress in the beef cattle industry.
One of the things Angus Genetics is working on, Retallick-Riley said, is continuing to appreciate the value of the current database and find ways to yield more information with those tools.
“The other thing we continue to hear, and probably a more practical application, is going to be trying to match these cattle to their environments,” Retallick-Riley said.
As the climate conversation has been one of popularity, Retallick-Riley said there has been work towards having a methane emissions EPD eventually.
“It is not an easy trait to measure,” Retallick-Riley said. “It is a hard trait to capture, and it is an expensive trait to capture, much like our feed intake data is an expensive trait to capture.”
By utilizing the tools available, Retallick-Riley said the industry is interested in seeing a methane emissions EPD come to life, but it will not be easy. Retallick-Riley said this may be something the consumer will demand at some point.
“We need to make sure that as AGI, we are looking at all the potential solutions that we can position Angus breeders and commercial cattlemen in the right forefront so they can make progress if they are asked to do it,” Retallick-Riley said. “I think regardless of our own personal feelings, if people are pointing at us, we want to help Angus breeders be the solution to any problem we may see down the road.”
Looking ahead into the rebuilding of the cowherd, Retallick-Riley said, hopefully, producers take this as an opportunity to rebuild with even better genetics than before.
“Anytime we are faced with adversity in this industry, in the beef industry, we tend to come out better than we were before, and I see that same pattern happening as we go through this rebuilding phase,” Retallick-Riley said.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
