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The Montana Beef Network (MBN) is a producer-driven partnership between the Montana Stockgrowers Association and Montana State University, and uses a systems approach to help producers market consistent, source and age-verified feeder cattle and establish an information network to provide production feedback. The Network also utilizes its resources to undertake research and educational issues that are of concern to Montana beef producers. One very visible consumer and producer concern about beef is food safety. It has become a concern for the beef industry at all production levels. Beef producers must address methods to improve and document ranch biosecurity and biocontainment protocols to prevent food safety events and thus, irreparable harm to beefs market share. Utilizing the processes and organizational structure developed by the Montana Beef Network, the proposed research and educational programs will continue to develop an animal identification and traceability system to address the animal health, biosecurity, and food safety concerns expressed by producers and consumers. <P>
OBJECTIVES: <P> 1. Educate and train producers in Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) practices according to a set of newly developed strategic priorities for the U.S. beef cattle industry. The program is designed to help producers document and ensure food safety, feeder calf quality and consistency, and source and age, and verification. Research will be undertaken to improve Montanas BQA program and determine if recommended practices are improving quality and value of beef cattle. <P>2. As a component of the Montana BQA program, implement ranch and feedlot biosecurity planning, targeting the livestock producers in communities that are at most risk to animal disease outbreaks and present the most risk to the health status of Montana livestock in general. <P> 3. Enhance a feeder calf certification program that applies nutrition, vaccination, and testing protocol research for BQA-trained producers. This work will be sub-contracted to the MSGA. <P>4. Continued development of an electronic identification/tracking system to trace calves through various production channels and return production information back to the cow-calf producer. This work will be subcontracted to the MSGA. <P>5. Present research-based information on food safety, financial, nutritional, reproductive and marketing management principles to producers through conferences and other producer meetings. <P> 6. Provide Montana beef producers with the information necessary to maximize profits from their beef marketing strategies through the integration of workshops, marketing clubs and on-line market information through the web site MontanaMarketmanager.org. This work will be subcontracted to Montana Stockgrowers Association. <P>7. Measurement of residual feed intake (RFI) and feed conversion ratio in replacement heifers sired by Simmental, Simmental x Angus or Angus Bulls exhibiting either high or low RFI, a method to reduce feed intake.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The Montana Beef Network (MBN) is a producer-driven partnership between the Montana Stockgrowers Association and Montana State University, and uses a systems approach of educational outreach to help producers market consistent, source and process-verified feeder cattle and establish an information network to provide production feedback on their cowherd. The Network also utilizes its resources to undertake research and educational issues that are of immediate concern to Montana beef producers (biosecurity, beef quality assurance, animal verification, feed efficiency). One very visible consumer and producer concern about beef is food safety. It has become a concern for the beef industry at all production levels. Beef producers must address methods to improve and document ranch biosecurity and biocontainment protocols to prevent perceived food safety events and thus, irreparable harm to beefs market share. Utilizing the processes and organizational structure developed by the Montana Beef Network, the proposed research and educational programs will continue to develop programs to address the animal health, biosecurity, and production efficiencies concerns expressed by producers and consumers.
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APPROACH: <BR> Objective 1. Utilizing the county extension agents to assist with training, MT beef producers are exposed to the impact of quality defects on the value of feeder cattle, food safety, feed additive usage, vaccination strategies, management of cull cows and documentation of best management practices . <P>Objective 2. The Montana BQA director has responsibility to provide leadership for ranches and feedlots that reduce the incidence of common livestock diseases; provide educational programs to prevent the introduction and/or spread of catastrophic diseases; continually assess the risks and possibilities of agroterrorism and help producers protect their operations from agroterrorist threats. Phase One, key producers would be identified and encouraged to develop individual livestock biosecurity plans to prevent introduction and transmission of identified disease threats. Phase Two, public programs would be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of livestock biosecurity. <P>Objective 3. As part of the BQA certification process, livestock producers who desire to enter into the MBN are presented with guidelines to follow for certification of their weaned/feeder calves prior to marketing. <P>Objective 4. The goal of this objective is to establish an electronic network of communication exchange between the livestock producer, auction market, order buyer, feedlot manager and the packer. This will be accomplished through two approaches. First, for producers who only want to source and (or) age verify their weaned calves, an electronic tag is used and source and birth date information collected. The second approach is designed to return information from the packing plant to a private database. <P>Objective 5.Conferences will be scheduled at the community level to discuss the above topics. These programs will be done in conjunction with the MSGA and hosted by ranches throughout the state. The second way to present this information will be at our annual Nutrition Conference. <P>Objective 6.A cooperative effort between MSU, MSGA, and Montana Grain Growers Association, this objective will be addressed by improving the livestock component of the Montana MarketManager program <P>Objective 7 The overall focus of this research is to determine if beef heifers can be selected for either low or high RFI and to measure feed and reproductive efficiency over two lactations when developed on low to medium quality diets. Heifers will be selected using the potential for either low or high RFI based on cooperative research from the U of IL. Their steer mates are on an experiment to determine RFI differences. Simmental, Simmental x Angus and Angus bulls with either high or low RFI were selected to sire these steers and heifers. Cows from two commercial ranches were artificially inseminated during the spring of 2006 and offspring were weaned during October of 2007. The heifers will be artificially inseminated during May of 2008. During October, 2008, the pregnant heifers will be transported to MSU where they will be randomly placed into one of eight pens. .Expected feed intake will be calculated by regressing the actual DM intake against ADG and metabolic midweight (Basarab et al., 2003).