Nebraska Angus Association visits CSC

Nebraska Angus Association visited Chadron State College as a part of their two-day tour of Western Nebraska, on  Oct. 1.

The Angus Association was led by Margo Lehh, secretary and manager of the organization.

The group started with a tour of CSC’s Range Complex and rodeo practice arena, led by Professor Ron Bolze and Adjunct Faculty James O’Rouke. The tour started with a history lesson of CSC’s rangeland management program, followed by summaries of each of the rangeland management comprehensions. 

The group was able to see the classrooms and the  outside area that is used for studies, which Bolze referred to as a “living laboratory.”

Bolze spoke highly about the rangeland management program and noted that the program is one of the largest in the country.

“Disregarding Texas A&M, we are the largest range program in the country,” Bolze said. “We have about 128 students.”

Following the tour, Angus Association members attended dinner in CSC’s ballroom, where four presenters spoke.

Jack Whittier, spoke about technologies in animal agriculture, how they were developed and his expectations for the future of animal agriculture.

His presentation started with discussions about corn yield production spikes in the 1940s compared to production today. He mentioned how cattle efficiency has increased and how less cattle  are needed to feed more people.

Whittier touched on agriculture advocacy and the decreasing number of people who are in agriculture production. 

“There are fewer and fewer people who understand our way of life,” Whitter said.

Whitter discussed technologies including, sexed semen, artificial insemination, embryo transfer and estrus cycle manipulation.

Paul Dykstra, representing Certified Angus Beef was the next to speak, sharing the 10 carcass specifications that are required for certification.

These 10 requirements are modest or higher marbling, medium to fine marbling texture, cattle younger than 30 months old and A-maturity lean, 10-16 square inch ribeye area, maximum 1,050 pound carcass weight, maximum 1 inch fat thickness, superior muscling, free of capillary rupture, no dark cutters and no neck humps over 2 inches. Cattle must be at least part Angus with over 50% black coat.

Dykstra spoke about marbling being the biggest limiting factor in brand acceptance, noting marbling is a heritable trait. It can be bred for, but is influenced by factors after birth.

“Marbling is a highly heritable trait,” Dykstra said. “We also need to head the fact that marbling is a lifetime event.”

The third speaker of the night was Levi Landers from the American Angus Association. He spoke about the long term objective for American Angus Association.

He also discussed Angus verified premiums and how to qualify for those premiums. Requirmens include birth and breeding records, vaccination records, weaning and castrating, proper tagging, good animal husbandry and the ranchers ability to work cattle calmly.

Benefits with being apart of this program include genetic history and premiums when selling cattle, according to Landers. 

Rick Pfortmiller gave the last presentation titled “Genomic testing as a risk management tool”.

He gave a brief history of genetic studies  in animal agriculture and genomic testing, which began to take off in 2009. 

Pfortmiller discussed the importance of genomics in improving the accuracy of expected progeny differences (EPD).

Pfortmiller spoke about the importance of genomics in the future of the beef industry specifically in preventing Bovine Congestive Heat Failure. A disease effecting cattle grazing high altitudes.

He claimed that genomics are becoming more important and pushing the indsutry to the future.