Duration: 10/01/2027 to 09/30/2032

Administrative Advisor(s):

NIFA Reps:

Non-Technical Summary

Beef cattle breeding in the U.S. is fragmented, with thousands of independent breeders and dozens of breed associations, lacking a single company or coordinated plan. Genetic evaluation programs, managed through partnerships between breed associations and university scientists, are the backbone of breeding progress. However, funding is tight since a major federal support source ended in 2011. Without coordination, research efforts risk being scarce and costly. This committee exists to keep researchers, breed associations, and industry connected so that genetic evaluation tools continue to improve. The objectives include sharing research across connected disciplines (genetics, statistics, computing); developing new tools using genomic and high-throughput phenotyping; keeping industry updated on new science; and partnering with organizations such as the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF). The target audience includes seedstock breeders, commercial cattle producers, breed associations, extension educators, and animal genetics researchers. They benefit through more accurate tools for selecting cattle with better growth, health, efficiency, and environmental traits, which improves profitability and sustainability industry-wide. The outcomes include annual meetings and collaboration, as well as the development of new methods and tools that are built into evaluation systems used by breed associations. Committee members then teach these advances through webinars (like the Brown Bagger series), conferences, and extension resources, translating complex science into practical guidance. This pipeline of research, discussion, refinement, and education ensures that discoveries in genomics and data science reach the beef cattle industry as usable, trustworthy breeding tools.

Statement of Issues and Justification

The U.S. beef industry lacks the centralized structure found in swine and poultry production, where a small number of breeding companies set unified goals. Instead, beef genetic improvement is driven by dozens of independent breed associations and thousands of individual breeders, each operating with its own selection tools and priorities. National Cattle Evaluation (NCE) programs, the genetic evaluation systems that allow producers to select superior breeding stock, have become the de facto foundation for progress in this fragmented system. These programs depend on close cooperation between breed associations and land-grant university scientists (BIF, 2021), but that cooperation is not automatic: it requires sustained coordination to avoid duplicated research, incompatible methods, and wasted resources. This need became more acute after federal support through the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium (NBCEC) ended in 2011, leaving breed associations to shoulder more of the financial burden. In the absence of the support of the NBCEC, the NCERA 225 committee fulfills a more critical role in the success of NCE through coordination of research activity, software development, and producer education. Multistate coordination is essential because no single institution, state, or breed association has the capacity or mandate to solve these shared technical challenges alone, particularly as the field rapidly incorporates genomic data (Georges et al., 2019), multi-omics information (Christensen et al., 2021), and high-volume camera and sensor data (phenomics) (Houle et al., 2010; Pérez-Enciso and Steibel, 2021) that are emerging and require standardized, cross-institutional methods to be usable.

This multistate project directly supports national priorities in agricultural productivity, food affordability, animal welfare, and environmental sustainability by improving the accuracy and efficiency of genetic selection tools used across the industry. By coordinating research on genetic evaluation methods, feed efficiency, environmental adaptability, and disease resistance, the committee helps reduce the environmental footprint of beef production while strengthening producer profitability and the competitiveness of U.S. beef in global markets. This will directly benefit seedstock breeders and commercial cattle producers, who rely on NCE tools to make breeding decisions; breed associations, who fund and administer these evaluation programs; university and USDA researchers developing new methods; and ultimately, consumers, who benefit from more affordable, higher-quality, and more sustainably produced beef.

 

Objectives

Procedures and Activities

The NCERA 225 committee plans to implement the following procedures and activities to address each of the previously stated objectives for the committee.

Objective 1

A meeting will be held annually at a host university or beef cattle breed association to create a collegial forum for information sharing among committee members. In addition, the committee will continue participation in annual activities hosted by the beef cattle community. As an example, committee members have been and will remain active in BIF, serving as committee chairmen and as invited speakers.

Objective 2

Annual beef cattle genetic evaluations conducted for the fulfillment of NCE and research that supports development of tools for said NCE will accomplish this objective. National cattle evaluations now take place at least biannually for many beef breed associations and weekly for several others. The research efforts of this committee will be applied to genetic evaluations of various beef breeds. Committee members will discuss results and ideas related to the success of NCE at the annual meeting. The dialogue between members provides critical feedback to those researching and developing new NCE selection tools. In previous years, speakers have drawn on the committee's collective knowledge to resolve technical issues with NCE analyses. In addition to developing new selection tools, committee members will continue their research to integrate genomic information into the genetic evaluation of beef cattle. These efforts will be coordinated with available funding and research projects conducted by members of this committee.

Objective 3

Committee members will be on programs aimed at informing the cattle industry of new developments in research. The BIF Annual Meeting and the Brown Bagger webinar series provide forums for committee members to present research findings and discuss implications for the beef industry. Additionally, extension resources such as ebeef.org will be used to disseminate research findings to a broader, more diverse audience.

Objective 4

Committee members will continue to work to provide symposia, online seminars, and meetings. For example, the ongoing Brown Bagger series provides education and outreach to various professionals who serve the industry. Committee members will also be involved in coordinating and participating in research activities sponsored by the beef cattle community.

Expected Outcomes and Impacts

Projected Participation

View Participation Form/Appendix E: Participation

Educational Plan

Information developed by members of the committee will be of critical value to the beef cattle industry and to research scientists working in the area of livestock genetic improvement. The committee will actively disseminate information in several ways. Members of the committee are active in other interested organizations such as the BIF and work closely with breed associations. Information from the committee will be reviewed and discussed by BIF committees and workshops. Committee members will then give presentations at meetings such as those held by BIF and breed associations. The BIF annual meeting is attended by all segments of the beef industry including commercial cattlemen, seedstock breeders, personnel from breed associations and AI studs, extension specialists and researchers (university, USDA, etc.). The potential flow of information is as follows:

NCERA 225 Coordinating Committee
↓
BIF Genetic Prediction Committee
Genetic Prediction Workshops
↓
BIF Annual Meetings
Breed Associations
Extension Specialists
Continuing Education (i.e., Brown Bagger)
↓
Seedstock Producers
Commercial Cattle Producers
Commercial Industry (e.g., Zoetis)

Organization/Governance

Officers will consist of a chair and chair-elect. The term of office will be one year. The chair will be responsible for organizing the annual meeting and for coordinating meeting arrangements with the host location. The chair-elect will be responsible for writing and submitting the meeting minutes to the administrative advisor and the website coordinator.

Prospective members will be invited to attend regular meetings by the administrative advisor or a committee member. After attending a meeting, candidates are eligible for nomination to join the NCERA 225 committee. Approval will require a majority vote of the committee members present.

Committee members and participants need to regularly participate in the annual events associated with the NCERA 225 committee. If a member of the committee does not attend the annual meeting, their absence will be noted in the report with a copy sent to their agricultural experiment station director. Furthermore, the committee member must explain their absence and inform the committee of their expectations for future participation.

Literature Cited

BIF. 2021. Guidelines for Uniform Beef Improvement Programs. Beef Improvement Federation. Retrieved from https://guidelines.beefimprovement.org/index.php/Guidelines_for_Uniform_Beef_Improvement_Programs.

 

Christensen, OF, Börner, V, Varona, L, and Legarra, L. 2021. Genetic evaluation including intermediate omics features. Genetics 219:iyab130.

 

Georges, M., et al. 2019. Harnessing genomic information for livestock improvement. Nat Rev Genet 20, 135–156.

 

Houle D, et al. 2010. Phenomics: the next challenge. Nat Rev Genet 11, 855–866.

 

Pérez-Enciso M, and Steibel, JP. 2021. Phenomes: the current frontier in animal breeding. Genet Sel Evol 53, 22.

 

Attachments

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions