Beef and dairy production are two of the top 10 agricultural industries in Ohio. Consumer confidence depends on safe, quality products and the assurance that food animals are raised with high-quality care. To keep this industry productive and viable, both economically and socially, researchers in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) are actively exploring advancements in five areas: reproduction, growth, animal welfare, nutrition, and quality of products.
CFAES scientists continuously explore more about the lifecycle of beef and dairy cattle, from gestation and birth on through to a humane harvest. Gestation is a particularly important time in a cow’s life. That's when vital nutrients for growth and development are passed from mother to calf.
Assistant Professor Alvaro Garcia Guerra and Associate Professor Alejandro Relling in the Department of Animal Sciences want to optimize cattle reproduction at the biological level. They collaborated on a project led by Gustavo Schuenemann, a professor in The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, to study the causes for stillborn calves at calving to improve the overall reproductive performance and future reproduction. What did they find? That pregnant cows who were close to calving but did not have enough consistent lying time had a higher chance of stillbirth. This points to an important advancement in cattle welfare and managing cow comfort, offering practical solutions to rearing practices for Ohio beef and dairy producers.
Garcia Guerra’s current research project tracks beef bulls in the field using GPS technology. The study hopes to track patterns of behavior and health markers that increase the likelihood of successful, natural mating. This information could be used to improve the efficiency of natural beef reproduction systems when using natural breeding, which could increase profits for producers using such systems.
For the latest reproduction research in CFAES, check out the links below.
Research collaboration with Australian University | Podcast with Alvaro Garcia Guerra
After dairy calves are born, researchers seek to improve their growth with minimum cost to producers. Maurice Eastridge has a dual appointment in the Department of Animal Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine. He researches growth benchmarks, nutrition, and the health markers that achieve maximum growth in dairy cattle. Eastridge collects this information to determine which nutritional inputs are most important for cattle, allowing producers to optimize the cost of production.
Relling also studies how nutritional inputs for cattle are associated with their various health markers. He’s adjusting the feed intake or feed type for beef cattle, and then records what short- and long-term effects this has on the animals, such as improved feeding efficiency and carcass characteristics. He also uses statistics and mathematical modeling to evaluate the growth rates of cattle to predict animal growth. Likewise, Extension Specialist Garth Ruff with Ohio State University Extension also studies ways to optimize cattle growth. He evaluates the economics of beef production, calculates the benefits of heifer raising, and looks for the best ways for breeding heifers, or replacement heifers, to gain weight.
For more about cattle development, take a look at this article by Garth Ruff.
Ensuring the health and welfare of cattle is vital to the beef and dairy management process. Animal welfare has become a hot-button topic in recent years, and CFAES researchers are at the forefront of discussions and advancements in the field. Relling researches beef calf behavior and well-being to minimize negative behavioral and health effects. Relling, along with Tony Parker, formerly with CFAES, found that weaning causes increased stress in calves, for instance, but that stress can be mitigated with the use of cow friends, or social facilitator cows. Similarly, graduate student Kirsten Nickles, advised by Parker, studied the effects of muddy pastures—an increasingly common condition from climate changes—on cattle health.
Click here to see more in-depth descriptions of this work.
Assistant Professor Jessica Pempek, meanwhile, is involved in research with surplus dairy calves, or calves that are sold from the farm within days of birth. These young animals can face unique welfare challenges early in life, such as long transport times, irregular feeding schedules, and co-mingling with unfamiliar animals. Buyers have little to no information on what kind of newborn care they received. As a result, this vulnerable group is at high risk of disease and mortality early in life, resulting in high antibiotic use. Pempek has partnered with Dr. Greg Habing, interim chair and professor in the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and the principal investigator on this project. They are currently working with dairy producers to improve newborn calf care before calves are sold. Their work also involves how to decrease unnecessary antibiotic use in young calves while promoting their welfare and human public health. Pempek and Habing offer recommendations and training for producers on how to best implement these changes on-farm.
To produce high end quality products, beef and dairy cattle need adequate nutrition throughout the course of their lives. Eastridge is studying cattle nutritional needs throughout their lifespan in the hopes of reducing nutritionally related diseases. He and Ruff both study the intersection between animal nutrition and farm economics, searching for ways to increase feed efficiency while minimizing costs. Every farm is different and requires a unique strategy for their situation.
Another study from Parker and Relling demonstrated that providing vitamin and mineral supplements to recently weaned calves can help decrease the amount of body weight they lose as a result of the stress of their transition.
Relling also studies feeding management strategies. He’s evaluating the nutritional effects of free-access hay feeding and the use of whole shelled corn versus dry rolled corn on beef cattle health. One study found that feeding dry-rolled corn, versus whole shelled, to cattle during the finishing phase improved their average daily gain, hot carcass weight, and longissimus dorsi muscle area without affecting feed efficiency or meat quality.
Assessing the quality of beef and dairy products involves examining all other areas of cattle’s circumstances—from their reproduction rates, growth rates, health, and nutrition levels. How beef and dairy animals are raised can aid or hinder the goal of producing high-quality products for human consumption. For example, good marbling—intramuscular fat deposits throughout meat—is a desired quality for flavor and tenderness. Researchers wanted to know what sorts of biological underpinnings impact certain qualities in meat, like understanding what cellular indicators are responsible for marbling differences in cattle. Relling’s study showed that regardless of genetics, an animal’s growth rate appears to directly influence the timing and accumulation of marbling. This provides insight on why marbling differences may vary in cattle of different breeds or genetic backgrounds.
Dairy producers and researchers want to know: what improves milk production and quality? Relling teamed up with other researchers to see how feeding palmitic acid to cows in mid-lactation would impact their milk output and quality. The study showed that palmitic acid consistently increased milk fat content and yield in both Holstein and Jersey breeds, which are two of the most common breeds in the U.S. dairy industry.
In line with his nutrition research, Eastridge looks at the impact of different feed management strategies on milk composition, or the percentages of fat, protein, and lactose in dairy products. Ultimately, milk composition affects product quality, which also affects the price producers receive for their milk. Ruff teaches crucial information about genetics and nutrition to new producers and small farm audiences. He monitors current industry trends in management practices, nutrition, and beef carcass quality to stay current.
A nationwide effort to assess the welfare, safety, and quality of beef cattle and beef carcasses involves a team from CFAES for the first time since 1991. Associate Professor and Extension Meat Specialist, Dr. Lyda G Garcia (lead), from the Department of Animal Sciences, selected Drs. Jessica Pempek and Benjamin Bohrer, both assistant professors in the department, to help with the National Beef Quality Audit due to their specialties of animal welfare and muscle biology/meat science. A group of graduate and undergraduate students are also involved and gaining valuable real-world experience. Only nine universities nationwide were asked to participate in the audit on behalf of the National Cattleman’s Beef Association.
The group has been visiting meat processing plants in Michigan and Pennsylvania over the last year to collect data around transportation, animal health, body condition, bruising, condemnations, and carcass quality. Results from the audit will be shared at a national beef summit this summer. Beef producers can use the audit to assess their own production practices and make changes, if needed, to assure the best welfare, safety, and highest quality for their cattle at sale.
Check out this article by Dr. Steve Boyles, an Ohio State University Beef Specialist, to learn more about commercial meat processing.
