Livestock producers mix tradition and high-tech

DENVER (AP)--The cattle in the maze of pens at the National Western Stock Show are all gussied up: Clipped, washed, blow-dried, ready to wow 'em in the auction barn.

The true cattle connoisseur, though, knows that beauty isn't in the eye of beholder--it's in the numbers recorded on small placards hanging in the pen and in three-ring binders: Pedigree, birth weight, muscle-to-fat ratio, offspring's statistics.

Genetic tracking is nothing new in the cattle industry, but computers have revolutionized the field.

"We took 250 years of cattle breeding and in the last 10 to 15 years we have really accelerated," said Roy Wallace of Select Sires Inc., an Ohio-based federation of cooperatives that supplies semen for the beef and dairy industries.

"Now, there's like 30 some traits in there that you can select," he said.

Needs vary, depending on the operations and the targeted market.

Colorado State and other universities work in tandem with the livestock industry to breed and raise the kind of cattle that produce beef that people will buy in supermarkets or high-dollar restaurants. The goal might be beef that's lean or marbled with fat for taste.

"We use DNA markers to try and help us understand which animals have the inherent abilities to produce a tender product or to stay healthy in certain environments," said Tom Field, Colorado State animal sciences professor.

The consumer is on the minds of John Schurr and his family, who raise Angus and Charolais cattle southeast of North Platte, Neb.

The Schurrs began using ultrasound more than 20 years ago to determine if their animals were producing the "high red meat yield, fat-free and tender" beef the public wants, Schurr said.

Before, all they could do is examine the carcass after slaughter to test if their breeding program was working. Ultrasound allows cattle producers to assess a living animal's muscularity, fat and other traits, Field said.

The Schurrs teamed up with an ultrasound researcher from Cornell University. They also use embryo transfer in which a cow with the desired qualities is given a drug to produce several eggs during ovulation. All the eggs are fertilized via artificial insemination and implanted in other cows.

Cows have only one calf a year, so embryo transfer spreads around the superior cow's genetics more quickly.

"I think people don't understand the technology we do use. It's not just throwing the bull out with the cows," said Ryan Schurr, one of Schurr's sons.

Date:1/24/06