UGA helping Georgia Beef Producers Improve Herds

University of Georgia Animal and Dairy Sciences Program Coordinator Grace Nyhuis discussed the university's programs intended to help beef producers improve the quality of their herds.

Nyhuis explained that the Georgia Bull Evaluation Program, conducted at UGA evaluation centers in Tifton and Calhoun, conducts a 112-day test of bulls consigned by beef producers. The testing done at the centers demonstrates individual bull performance differences in a uniform environment; provides breeders with a sound scientific basis for selecting bulls with the ability to gain weight rapidly and makes the bulls available to other cattle producers through a public sale at the end of the evaluation period.

Testing is already underway for the 2016-2017 evaluation program at the Calhoun bull evaluation center. Sept. 1 is the deadline for entering bulls in the bull evaluation program at the Tifton Bull Evaluation Center.

Nyhuis explained that the Heifer Evaluation & Reproduction Development (HERD) program, also conducted in Calhoun and Tifton, allows producers to consign heifers to the UGA program that evaluates heifers on weight gain performance, reproductive traits and disposition. The bred heifers are sold to the public at the end of the five-month evaluation period.

Producers who plan to enter their heifers in the HERD program at the Tifton center must have the heifers weaned, dehorned, dewormed and vaccinated before Sept. 5 so the heifers can enter the program on Oct. 3 with a valid health certificate. Producers planning to enter heifers in the HERD program at the Calhoun facility must have the aforementioned health treatments done to their heifers before Nov. 3 so that the heifers can enter the Calhoun program on Dec. 1 with a valid health certificate.

The Georgia Beef Challenge, which evaluates how Georgia cattle perform in Midwestern feedlots, gives Georgia cattle producers data on the health and performance of their cattle while they are in the feedlot and the carcass merit of their cattle once they are harvested. This information helps producers improve the genetics and health management of their herds so their cattle will perform better in the feedlots and bring more money. More than 29,000 calves from Georgia farms have been evaluated since the Beef Challenge began in 1991.