The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) recognized B.R. Cutrer (BRC) Inc., Wharton, TX, as the winner of the BIF Seedstock Producer of the Year Award on June 3 during the group’s annual research symposium in Las Cruces, NM. This national award is presented annually to a producer to recognize their dedication to improving the beef industry at the seedstock level.
BRC ranch is an innovative Brahman ranch that embraces strong Texas ranching roots. Brandon and Rachel Cutrer manage 350 head of Brahman cattle and F1s, and they are considered one of the top Brahman breeders worldwide. BRC showcases the beef industry from pasture to plate, with an emphasis on values, work ethic and entrepreneurship.
BIF presented Rezac Land and Livestock with the BIF Commercial Producer of the Year Award. This national award is presented annually to a producer to recognize their dedication to improving the beef industry at the commercial level.
[inline_image file=”c01264d7b8cf41bf3a643b3b34f402b7.jpg” caption=”Rezac Land Livestock, Onaga, Kansas, was recognized as the Beef Improvement Federation Commercial Producer of the Year on June 2. Pictured left presenting the award is 2022 BIF President Matt Perrier Eureka Kansas.jpg”]
Rezac Land and Livestock, founded by Don and Barbara Rezac, is a diversified ranch located on the northern edge of the Kansas Flint Hills. The cattle operation consists of 900 Simmental- and Angus-bred spring-calving cows. In addition to their cow herd, they purchase about 5,500 calves each year for their stocker and backgrounding operations. Calves are purchased from Missouri to North and South Dakota. The majority are sold as feeder cattle, with the remainder retained for finishing in the family’s feedyard.
Continuing Service Awards
Continuing Service Award winners have made major contributions to the BIF organization. As BIF is a volunteer organization, it is this contribution of time and passion for the beef cattle industry that moves BIF forward.
BIF presented Dr. Milt Thomas, Fort Collins, CO, with a BIF Continuing Service Award.
[inline_image file=”b227263dbe65eda38d83ed2954a00b07.jpg” caption=”Milt Thomas, Fort Collins, Colorado, receives the Beef Improvement Federation Continuing Service Award from Matt Perrier, 2022 BIF president (left). Also pictured is Milt’s family, son Josh and daughter-in-law Crystal. Thomas was honored June 2 at the organization’s 54th Annual Symposium and Convention in Las Cruces, New Mexico.”]
Dr. Thomas currently serves as a professor and the John E. Rouse Chair of Beef Cattle Breeding at Colorado State University. Additionally, he has been a long-time attendee, supporter and speaker at the annual BIF symposiums.
Over the course of his career, Thomas has published 116 peer-reviewed journal articles, 100 proceedings papers and 228 abstracts. He has garnered over $8 million in research funding, mentored over 40 graduate students and taught thousands of undergraduate students about genetics. He has served on the International Brangus Breeders Association’s Breed Improvement Committee, directed the Brangus breeding program at New Mexico State University, served on the advisory board of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s project for the genomic study of heat tolerance in beef cattle, and helped develop the BIF guidelines for pulmonary arterial pressure measurements.
BIF also presented Dr. Jared Decker, Columbia, MO, with a BIF Continuing Service Award. Decker currently serves as the Wurdack Chair in Beef Genomics and is an associate professor at the University of Missouri.
[inline_image file=”1a0c2a4ca8c93c563844e184dab1d39c.jpg” caption=”Jared Decker (right), Columbia, Missouri, receives the Beef Improvement Federation Continuing Service Award from Matt Perrier, 2022 BIF president. Decker was honored June 2 at the organization’s 54th Annual Symposium and Convention in Las Cruces, New Mexico.”]
Decker’s dissertation research used BovineSNP50 genotypes to study the evolutionary relationships among different species of ruminants and cattle breeds distributed worldwide. He also developed a new method for identifying genomic regions exposed to selection and applied this method to registered Angus cattle born over a 50-year period. Currently, his research focuses on improving the accuracy and breadth of genomic tests and creating genomic tools to match cattle to their physical and management environments.
BIF also presented Josh White, Highlands Ranch, CO, with a BIF Continuing Service Award. White currently serves as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) executive director of producer education and sustainability. Additionally, he serves as the NCBA representative on the BIF board of directors.
[inline_image file=”2404d18ed12e31885a7bbc4477c76bf8.jpg” caption=”Matt Perrier, 2022 BIF president, presents the Beef Improvement Federation Continuing Service Award to Josh White, Highlands Ranch, Coloradso. White was honored June 2 at the organization’s 54th Annual Symposium and Convention in Las Cruces, New Mexico.”]
During his career, he has championed Cattlemen’s College, stockmanship and stewardship, and webinar series for cattlement while also promoting and advancing the Beef Quality Assurance program. White helps lead NCBA policy division’s sustainability efforts, including co-chairing the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef’s outreach working group.
Pioneer Awards
The Pioneer Award recognizes individuals who have made lasting contributions to the improvement of beef cattle, honoring those who have had a major role in the acceptance of performance reporting and documentation as the primary means to make genetic change in beef cattle.
BIF presented Dr. R.L. “Bob” Hough, Lone Tree, CO, with the BIF Pioneer Award. During his tenure at the Red Angus Association of America, it became the first breed association to implement a whole herd reporting program and adopt the concept of economically relevant traits. Using these systems, they implemented the industry’s first data filters and developed nine new EPDs, including the first reproductive sire summary. Hough also developed the first USDA Process Verified Program for entry into approved Angus product lines and, concurrently with Gelbvieh, developed groundbreaking value-based marketing systems.
[inline_image file=”bda8bb2f6247f8f6f2c7a29d6fd1c134.jpg” caption=”Dr. Bob Hough (center), Lone Tree, Colorado, receives the Beef Improvement Federation Pioneer. Also pictured (L-R) is Craig Bieber, Brian House, Lee Leachman, Donnell Brown, Mark Thallman and Wade Shafer.”]
Hough served on the BIF board, as a Guidelines chapter editor, as a Guidelines author and as a standing committee chair. He has also been a general session speaker at the annual symposium. In addition, he was the co-founder and first chair of the Ultrasound Guidelines Committee, as well as president of the Beef Breeds Council and director of the National Pedigree Livestock Association and Genetic Evaluation Council.
Additionally, Hough has received the BIF Continuing Service and Ambassador awards, and with his receipt of the BIF Pioneer Award, he joins Dr. Robert C. de Baca as the only other person to be recognized with all three awards.
BIF also presented Dr. Bobby Rankin, Las Cruces, NM, with the BIF Pioneer Award.
Rankin was a true pioneer. He joined New Mexico State University (NMSU) in 1961 and retired in 2000. During his 39 years at NMSU, he helped livestock producers use systematic selection and crossbreeding for animals better suited to the Southwest. As an animal science professor, Rankin taught a class covering BIF Guidelines for calculating adjusted birth weights, weaning weights and yearling weights, as well as ratios within contemporary groups. Most importantly, he taught his students why and how the guidelines were established. He was also an integral part of starting the Tucumcari Bull Test.
Ambassador Award
BIF presented Dr. B. Lynn Gordon with the BIF Ambassador Award. This award is presented annually by BIF to a team or member of the media for his or her efforts in spreading the BIF message and its principles to a larger audience.
[inline_image file=”a32b7de411bac503a59bac205d1116e6.jpg” caption=”B. Lynn Gordon, Grand Island, Nebraska, receives the Beef Improvement Federation Ambassador Award from Matt Perrier, 2022 BIF president. Gordon was honored June 2 at the organization’s 54th Annual Symposium and Convention in Las Cruces, New Mexico.”]
Gordon has an enthusiastic passion for the beef industry and has dedicated her career to fostering beef improvement through her roles working with breed and state associations, the Extension service, as a freelance writer, and most recently as an agricultural leadership and marketing consultant. She began her career working for the University of Minnesota Extension Service and then pursued roles as an education and communications director for state and national beef industry organizations, including serving as editor of publications at the Red Angus Association of America and the American Hereford Association.
Throughout her career, Gordon has contributed to the beef industry as a former Livestock Publications Council board member, a livestock photographer, editor, and freelance writer. She often featured articles about generations of seedstock families and the changing role of genetic evaluation, as well as many leadership topics.
Baker/Cundiff Honors
The annual Frank Baker/Larry Cundiff Beef Improvement Essay Contest for graduate students provides an opportunity to recognize outstanding student research and competitive writing in honor of Baker and Cundiff.
BIF presented a Baker/Cundiff Award to Lane Giess, Fort Collins, CO. Giess is working on his doctorate at Colorado State University. His essay was titled “High-impact data programs: A framework for expanded opportunities in genetic evaluation.”
[inline_image file=”ef8242b10f2b7b432fe0b1d0c7805220.jpg” caption=”Lane Giess (right), Fort Collins, Colorado, receives the Beef Improvement Federation Baker/Cundiff Award from Matt Perrier, 2022 BIF president. Giess was honored June 3 at the organization’s 54th annual symposium in Las Cruces, New Mexico.”]
BIF also presented the Baker/Cundiff Award to Haleigh Prosser, Canyon, TX. Prosser is working on her master’s degree at West Texas A&M University. Her essay was titled “Effectiveness of a genome-wide association study using DNA pooling to make management decisions in feedlot cattle.”
[inline_image file=”2361f711ec98b618f1072ab26570aa29.jpg” caption=”Haleigh Prosser, Canyon, Texas, receives the Beef Improvement Federation Baker/Cundiff Award from Matt Perrier, 2022 BIF president. Prosser was honored June 3 at the organization’s 54th annual symposium in Las Cruces, New Mexico.”]
Historically, winning essays are selected and published in the annual BIF Research Symposium and Annual Meeting Proceedings. This year, the winning essay is posted to the BIF website, BIFSymposium.com. Giess and Prosser will each receive a $1,000 scholarship.
Memorial scholarships
BIF presented the Roy A. Wallace Memorial Scholarships to Macie McCollum and Luke Fuerniss. These scholarships were established to encourage young men and women interested in beef improvement to pursue those interests as Wallace did, with dedication and passion.
McCollum, Bellevue, TX, is this year’s undergraduate winner. She currently attends Texas A&M University, where she majors in animal science and agricultural economics.
[inline_image file=”ba1b5b6d83bd981e58bd4fe73ff25753.jpg” caption=”Macie McCollum, Bellevue, Texas”]
At Texas A&M, McCollum is a member of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council and Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and was an inductee of the National Society of Leadership and Success. Additionally, she served as an American Junior Maine-Anjou Association at-large junior board director and was the 2015 Junior National Maine-Anjou Princess.
The graduate student award was presented to Fuerniss, Lubbock, TX. Fuerniss is currently working on his doctorate degree in animal science at Texas Tech University. He currently works with Dr. Bradley Johnson, researching the effects of maternal dairy genetics and the dairy management system on resulting live and carcass performance using the beef-dairy cross model and embryo transfer to create beef calves born on dairies.
[inline_image file=”9b0bf786943aa31e4820827d044fda0a.jpg” caption=”Luke Fuerniss, Lubbock, Texas.”]
McCollum and Fuerniss will each receive a $1,250 scholarship.
More than 300 beef producers, academics and industry representatives attended the organization’s 54th Annual Research Symposium and Convention. BIF’s mission is to help improve the industry by promoting greater acceptance of beef cattle performance evaluation.
For more information about this year’s symposium, including additional award winners and coverage of the symposium, visit BIFSymposium.com. —BIF
