The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) presented David Bolduc, Stavely, Alberta, Canada; Stewart Bauck, Lincoln, NE; and Warren Snelling, Lawrence, NE, the BIF Pioneer Award July 5 during the group’s annual research symposium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
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 acceptance of performance reporting and documentation as the primary means to make genetic change in beef cattle.
In 2018 Bolduc was recognized with the inaugural Certified Angus Beef Canadian Commitment to Excellence Award for vision and determination to produce genetics that perform for their commercial buyers and yield excellent beef. He has generously contributed his time and mentorship to the industry, sitting on various boards including the Canadian Angus Association, Canadian Beef Breeds Council, BIF and Canadian Beef Grading Agency at a time when they made significant progress and important decisions.
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Bauck was a true pioneer. A 1981 graduate of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, he entered mixed practice before returning to obtain a master’s degree in veterinary herd health. In 1986, Bauck joined the team responsible for developing and commercializing ivermectin globally, which led him to be the country manager in Canada for Merial (now Boehringer Ingelheim). In 2003, Bauck saw the emerging genomic technology and launched the Igenity Livestock Production Business Unit in September 2003 with a single product—Igenity L (for leptin).
From his role in Igenity, Bauck developed collaborations to bring Frontier Beef Systems into Igenity, support National Beef Cattle Educational Consortium genomic test validation, support early sequencing and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) identification efforts in cattle, and develop high throughput SNP genotyping tools. He was also responsible for much of the funding that went into building the original Bovine SNP 50 chip from Illumina and worked with Angus Genetics Inc. and the University of Missouri to launch the first genomic enhanced EPD from that early chip genotyping. In 2012, Neogen acquired Igenity. Bauck moved to Lincoln to GeneSeek where he spent 10 years building out a global network of laboratories and services designed to provide high throughput, low cost and rapid turnaround genotyping in agriculture.
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Snelling is a pioneer in developing methods for identification of functional polymorphisms, a key technology for increasing the accuracy of future genetic predictions and expanding our understanding of the genomic mechanisms in cattle. As a research geneticist in the genetics, breeding and animal health research unit of the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center, NE, he has authored and coauthored more than 80 peer-reviewed and other research papers, including work that is part of the key concepts used in understanding of livestock genomics and genetic prediction. Snelling’s career has always been focused on what is useful and directly applicable to producers.
For more information about this year’s symposium, including additional award winners and coverage of meeting and tours, visit BIFSymposium.com. — BIF
