Dr. Milton Thomas noticed some interesting developments in the field of animal science over the past few years, particularly with some new technology providing more data on beef cattle development traits and grazing behaviors.
Thomas, a Texas A&M professor based at the Beeville Extension Station, will speak at the Wednesday luncheon of the 2022 South Texas Farm and Ranch Show.
In the past 100 years, humans have learned how to raise cattle by growing their knowledge of the potential development traits an animal could have, Thomas said.
Developing sustainable cattle is a goal for today’s producers, Thomas said, so figuring out how an animal can be more fertile is key. To increase sustainability, there are a few things people can do.
“I use breeding values,” Thomas said. “There’s one tool known as Expected Progeny Difference, which can be used to predict various things, like feed efficiency. This information is published into a catalog.”
EPD values for other traits pertaining to cattle, such as methane production, reproduction and grazing behaviors are continuing to be developed, the A&M professor said.
Usage of EPDs in the beef cattle industry is driven forward partly by improvements in location monitoring technologies. Ear tags equipped with GPS provide information on where animals graze.
“The batteries in ear tags are microsized,” Thomas said. “The animals used to have to wear big collars. You can use Wi-Fi and cellular data to track the ear tags and then you can download the collected data onto a computer.”
Evaluating GPS data helps cattle raisers learn about where each animal likes to hang out.
“There are hill toppers and then there are bottom dwellers,” Thomas said. “GPS data helps us understand where there could be over and under grazing.”
Thomas said GPS can track an animal’s location every 10 minutes. Data compiled in real-time is becoming more common every day.
“There’s been a massive effort into monitoring movements and we have also been able to better understand cattle genetics through new technology,” Thomas said. “It used to be difficult to get this kind of data.”
The inclusion of genomics into cattle research has also been a big deal recently, Thomas said. Researchers collect a DNA sample containing thousands of genotypes. The genotypes may reveal how much the animal will grow and whether it will be resistant to diseases.
“It’s like 23andMe for animals,” Thomas said.
The progress made in the past 10 years may not stop anytime soon.
“Eventually there will be an app where you can access location tracking data on your phone,” Thomas said.
Gloss