OPTIMIZING FEED INTAKE RECORDING IN BEEF CATTLE.

16 Dec OPTIMIZING FEED INTAKE RECORDING IN BEEF CATTLE.

Beefbooster along with industry partner Thorlakson Feedyards and Livestock Gentec at the University of Alberta are conducting an ALMA funded project to develop a new Standard Operating Procedure for capturing feed intake and efficiency data for beef cattle using GrowSafe feed intake recording systems.

The goals of the project are:

• Accelerate genetic improvement of beef production making it more efficient and sustainable.
• Reduce per head testing costs for feed intake allowing more animals to be fully evaluated.
• Reducing the number of days animals are in expensive facilities, needed for measuring feed intake.
• Incorporation of pen-level feed intake information into genetic evaluation to enhance the accuracy of all animals for selection.
• All Beefbooster bulls offered  for sale this spring will have an Expected Breeding Value for Feed Intake – except for the M3 bulls.   M3 bulls will be tested for feed intake the following year.