PARTNERSHIP TO IMPROVE BEEF COW-CALF DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT IN NORTH FLORIDA: FOCUSING ON LIMITED-RESOURCE BEEF COW-CALF PRODUCERS

The overall goals of the proposed project are to increase the economic returns of weaned calves, incentivize the adoption of calf pre-conditioning programs, and improve the competitive advantage of limited-resource cow-calf producers in the beef supply chain. Since weaning and shipping are considered the most stressful events in the life of a calf, we hypothesize that a post-weaning management protocol that separates the immunosuppressive effects of the two events would improve calf health and reduce the risk of subsequent sickness in the feedlot creating an opportunity for cow-calf producers to obtain premium price for their calves.Specifically, we aim to identify a cost-effective preconditioning program that will maximize calf weight gain and health thereby improving profitability of limited resource cow-calf operations. Further, we seek to incentivize adoption of preconditioning among these producers to improve their competitive advantage in the beef supply chain. Thus, our research is guided by the followingobjectives:Compare the effects of two different preconditioning systems on weight gain, health and profitability during preconditioning process.Determine if transcriptomic profile of liver and splenic tissues can be used as indicators of the effects of preconditioning on calf health and subsequent productivity.Disseminate the research findings to producer groups and incentivize adoption of preconditioning to improve their competitive advantage in the beef supply chain.