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Perennial grass pastures provide the basis for beef production systems across the Southeast United States. One common management practice that is widely recommended among agronomists is interseeding cool-season legumes. Legumes can serve as a complementary resource for filling in production gaps, reducing supplemental feedstuffs, reducing the need for nitrogen fertilization, increasing the nutritional quality of forage available, increase biomass production, improve animal performance, and can reduce the toxic effects of endophyte-infected tall fescue through dilution. A simulated economic analysis was developed to further the economic understanding of the cost of implementation, the subsequent animal and forage performance benefits, and net returns from the inclusion of legumes over many research trials and years. Data from 15 peer-reviewed papers was used to simulate the economic benefits of implementing this production practice. Cost of production and revenue for each paper were calculated using the 10-year average from 2010 to 2019. This analysis provides users with a further understanding of the net returns, critical breakeven areas, and return on investment that is necessary in order to successfully implement the inclusion of cool-season legumes in perennial grass-based systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widespread regions of the southeast United States have soils, and hence forages, deficient in selenium (Se), necessitating Se supplementation to grazing cattle for optimal immune function, growth, and fertility. We have reported that supplementation with an isomolar 1:1 mix (MIX) of inorganic (ISe) and organic (OSe) forms of Se increases early luteal phase (LP) concentrations of progesterone (P4) above that in cows on ISe or OSe alone. Increased early LP P4 advances embryonic development. Our objective was to determine the effects of the form of Se on the development of the bovine conceptus and the endometrium using targeted real-time PCR (qPCR) on day 17 of gestation, the time of maternal recognition of pregnancy (MRP). Angus-cross yearling heifers underwent 45-d Se-depletion then repletion periods, then at least 90 d of supplementation (TRT) with 35 ppm Se per day as either ISe (n = 10) or MIX (n = 10). Heifers were inseminated to a single sire after detected estrus (day 0). On day 17 of gestation, caruncular (CAR) and intercaruncular (ICAR) endometrial samples and the developing conceptus were recovered from pregnant heifers (ISe, n = 6 and MIX, n = 6). qPCR was performed to determine the relative abundance of targeted transcripts in CAR and ICAR samples, with the expression data subjected to one-way ANOVA to determine TRT effects. The effect of TRT on conceptus development was analyzed using a one-tailed Student's t -test. When compared with ISe-treated heifers, MIX heifers had decreased (P < 0.05) abundance of several P4-induced and interferon-stimulated mRNA transcripts, including IFIT3 , ISG15 , MX1 , OAS2 , RSAD2 , DGAT2 , FGF2 in CAR and DKK1 in ICAR samples and tended (P ≤ 0.10) to have decreased mRNA abundance of IRF1 , IRF2 , FOXL2 , and PGR in CAR samples, and HOXA10 and PAQR7 in ICAR samples. In contrast, MIX-supplemented heifers had increased (P < 0.05) mRNA abundance of MSTN in ICAR samples and an increase in conceptus length (ISe: 17.45 ± 3.08 cm vs. MIX: 25.96 ± 3.95 cm; P = 0.05). Notably, myostatin increases glucose secretion into histotroph and contributes to advanced conceptus development. This advancement in conceptus development occurred in the presence of similar concentrations of serum P4 (P = 0.88) and whole blood Se (P = 0.07) at MRP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the hemp industry continues to develop in the United States, there is an increasing interest in feeding byproducts of industrial hemp production to livestock. A completely randomized design experiment using crossbred finishing heifers (initial body weight [ BW ] ± SE = 494 ± 10 kg) was conducted to determine the effects of feeding hempseed cake in a corn-based finishing diet (10% forage) formulated to meet or exceed ruminally degradable and metabolizable protein requirements on growth performance, carcass characteristics, feeding behavior, and plasma parameters. Dietary treatments were the inclusion of 20% (dry matter [ DM ] basis) of dried corn distillers grains plus solubles (DDGS , n  = 16) or hempseed cake (HEMP , n  = 15). Cattle were housed in two pens, had ad libitum access to feed and water, and individual intakes and feeding behavior were monitored using the Insentec feeding system. Cattle were fed treatment diets for 111 d, and every 14 d BW were measured and blood samples were collected. Blood plasma was analyzed for glucose, urea nitrogen, and individual amino acids, and results were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis in SAS. Final BW, average daily gain, gain:feed, and hot carcass weight decreased (P  ≤ 0.05) by 2.3%, 7.7%, 7.7%, and 2.6%, respectively, in heifers fed the HEMP diet than in heifers fed the DDGS diet. Net energy for maintenance and gain (Mcal/kg of feed, DM basis), estimated based on heifer intake and performance, were greater (P  = 0.02) for the DDGS diet than for the HEMP diet. All other performance and carcass characteristics were not different (P  ≥ 0.20) between treatments. Heifers fed the HEMP diet had greater (P  < 0.05) plasma urea nitrogen concentration in samples from each collection day compared with heifers fed the DDGS diet, although there was a treatment-by-day interaction (P  < 0.01) because of variability in the magnitude of treatment differences over time. Plasma glucose concentration was not influenced (P  = 0.17) by dietary treatment. Plasma concentrations of total amino acids, nonessential amino acids, and essential amino acids were not different between treatments (P  ≥ 0.09), although there were several interactions between treatment and day (P  ≤ 0.04) for individual amino acids. These data suggest that hempseed cake has a lower net energy for maintenance and gain relative to DDGS when adequate metabolizable protein is supplied, while still providing adequate nutrition to support the acceptable performance of finishing cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing global population, limited resource availability, and global focus on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions put pressure on animal agriculture industries to critically evaluate and optimize the role they play in a sustainable food production system. The objective of this review is to summarize evidence of the various roles that the U.S. beef industry plays in the U.S. and global agricultural systems. As the world's largest beef producer, the United States reaps considerable economic benefit from the beef industry through strong domestic and international demand, as well as employment opportunities for many Americans. Beef production contributes to GHG emissions, land use, and water use, among other critical environmental impacts but provides an important source of essential micronutrients for human consumption. The U.S. beef industry provides sufficient product to meet the protein, vitamin B12, omega-3 and -6 fatty acid requirements of 43, 137, 47, and 487 million people, respectively. In the United States, beef production was estimated to account for 53% of GHG emissions from U.S. animal agriculture and 25% of GHG emissions from all of U.S. agriculture. Footprinting studies suggest that much of the land use and water use associated with beef production are attributed to the development of feed crops or pastureland. On a global scale, beef from U.S. origin is exported to numerous developed and developing countries, representing an important international nutrient routing. Along with other prominent beef-producing nations, the United States continues to pursue a greater level of sustainability in its cattle industry, which will bear important implications for future global food security. Efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of beef production will likely be the strongest drivers of enhanced sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the United States exports 2.2 million tons of pork and pork products annually, representing just over 26% of U.S. pork production. In order to meet specific demands of a growing export market, pork quality and carcass characteristics are now integrated into breeding objectives. Color and marbling are 2 loin quality traits that influence consumer acceptability of pork and while correlations between early and aged ventral quality have been established, it is unclear if those correlations differ between production objectives (meat quality vs. lean growth). Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to compare correlations among early postmortem ventral loin quality characteristics and aged ventral loin and chop quality characteristics between pigs sired by either Pietrain (lean growth) or Duroc (meat quality) boars. Early postmortem (~1 d) quality traits included: instrumental and visual color, marbling and firmness, and loin pH on the ventral surface of the loin. Loins were aged until 14 d postmortem in vacuum packages. Aged quality traits included traits evaluated early as well as Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) and cook loss. Correlations were compared between Pietrain and Duroc-sired pigs using a Fisher’s z-test. Early instrumental lightness (L*) was moderately correlated with aged ventral L* (Pietrain r = 0.47; Duroc r = 0.65) and aged ventral visual color (Pietrain r = 0.42; Duroc r = 0.58). Early ventral visual color was moderately correlated with aged chop L* (Pietrain r = 0.46; Duroc r = 0.60) and aged chop visual color (Pietrain r = 0.45; Duroc r = 0.57). Early visual marbling was strongly correlated (Pietrain r = 0.68; Duroc r = 0.84) with aged chop visual marbling. Within the Durocsired pigs, early L* was moderately correlated with aged chop L* (r = 0.64) but only weakly correlated (r = 0.35) within the Pietrain-sired pigs and those correlations differed at P ≤0.02. Within the Duroc-sired pigs, early ventral visual color was moderately correlated with aged pH (r = 0.44) and aged ventral L* (r = 0.57) but only weakly correlated (r ≤ 0.29) within the Pietrain-sired pigs and those correlations differed at P ≤0.03. No early postmortem quality traits were correlated (r ≤ 0.34) with WBSF or cook loss for either sire line. In summary, correlations between early and aged postmortem quality traits rarely differed between Duroc- and Pietrain-sired pigs. It is not necessary to account for sire line when relating early and aged quality characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from a recent survey suggest that the major reasons Nebraska farmers plant cover crops are to improve soil organic matter, reduce erosion, improve soil water holding capacity, produce forage, and increase soil microbial biomass. Many of these benefits appear to be positively correlated with production of above-ground biomass. Thus, selecting species that will produce the greatest biomass should be beneficial for both soil conservation and forage production. Furthermore, the limited data available suggest that grazing of cover crops does not have large negative crop production, soil, or environmental impact. In the Midwestern United States, the production window following wheat harvest, male row destruction in seed corn, and to a lesser extent following corn silage harvest is long enough to produce 2,500 to 4,500 kg DM per hectare of high-nutritive value, fall forage. In the past 4 yr, we have conducted eight trials using predominantly oats and brassicas planted in mid- to late-August. Forage nutritive value of oats and brassicas is extremely high in early November (70% to 80% IVDMD; 14% to 23% CP) and remains high through December with only a 4% to 7% unit decrease in IVDMD and no change in CP concentration. Thus, it appears that delayed grazing could be an option to maximize potential forage yield. Fall-weaned calves (200 to 290 kg BW) grazing oats with or without brassicas in November and December (48 to 64 d) at stocking rates of 2.5 to 4.0 calves per hectare have ADG between 0.60 and 1.10 kg. The cost of gain has ranged from $0.53 to $2.08/kg when accounting for seed costs plus establishment ($60 to 117/ha), N plus application ($0 to 58/ha), fencing ($11/ha) and yardage ($0.10 calf-1 d-1). Although soybeans and corn harvested for grain do not provide a large enough growing window to accomplish fall grazing, similar dual purpose cover crop practices are often accomplished by planting winter-hardy small grain cereal grasses, such as cereal rye or winter triticale in the fall and grazing in the spring. However, traditional planting dates for corn and soybean result in a 30 to 45 d grazing period prior to corn and a 45 to 60 d period prior to soybean planting. Planting cover crops to provide late fall or early spring grazing has potential. However, incorporating forage production from cover crops into current cropping systems greatly increases the need for timeliness of management since the window of opportunity for forage production is quite narrow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privately owned grazing lands comprise 52% of all grazing lands in the United States. Livestock production is the primary economic source of income from these lands; however, improved management strategies can be implemented to not only sustain this agroecosystem, but enhance the natural resource to provide new and innovated ecosystem services and goods. To sustain this resource, grazing strategies should be designed to implement five basic principles: 1) provide diverse plant communities, 2) protect the soil surface, 3) eliminate overgrazing, 4) incorporate grazing management that enhances the forage harvest efficiency, and 5) create best managed ecosystems that accomplish reestablishment of historical disturbance regimes for a given region. By obtaining these principles, land owners will have the opportunity to create or enhance ecosystem services and goods that provide commodity, amenity, environmental and spiritual values essential to ranching life, the communities they live in, and the nation as a whole. Sustained ecosystems can provide food, fiber, biofuels, fish and wildlife habitat, water, improved air quality, ornamental resources, and ceremonial items to name a few. Livestock grazing is essential to sustain the ecosystems associated with rangeland, grassland and other perennial pastures. Ranchers and land managers should incorporate new grazing strategies to sustain the agroecosystem while developing potential enterprises to increase income through secondary goods and service. The ultimate goal is to provide a sustainable ecosystem that can be shared by future generations with a history that ties the land to the family and community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effects of aging on myoglobin chemistry of dark-cutting beef. Ten USDA Choice (mean pH = 5.6; normal pH beef) and 10 no-roll dark cutter (mean pH = 6.4) strip loins were obtained from a commercial packing plant within 3 d of harvest. Loins were cut into 4 sections, vacuum packaged, randomly assigned to 0-, 21-, 42-, and 62-d aging at 2°C in the dark. Following aging, loin sections were cut into 2.5-cm-thick steaks and were used to determine bloom development, oxygen consumption (OC), metmyoglobin reducing activity (MRA), and lipid oxidation. Surface color readings were measured using a HunterLab Miniscan XE Plus spectrophotometer. A significant muscle type × aging time interaction resulted for OC (P < 0.001). Normal pH steaks declined more (P < 0.001) in OC during aging than dark-cutting beef. On d 0, dark-cutting beef had a greater OC (P < 0.001) than normal pH beef. There was a significant muscle type × oxygenation time × aging period interaction for L* values, deoxymyoglobin (DeoxyMb), and oxymyoglobin (OxyMb). When dark-cutting sections were aged for 62 d, both 0 and 60 min bloom development L* values were greater (P < 0.0001) than 0 min dark-cutting sections aged for 21 or 42 d. At all aging periods, normal pH beef had greater OxyMb content and lower DeoxyMb (P < 0.0001) during bloom development than dark-cutting beef. An aging period × muscle type interaction was significant for % overall reflectance (P = 0.0017) and absorbance (P = 0.0038). Dark cutting and normal pH beef loin sections aged for 62 d had greater reflectance (P < 0.0001) than 21 d. On d 0, dark-cutting beef had greater (P < 0.0001) MRA than normal pH beef. There were no significant (P = 0.14) differences in MRA between 42 and 62 d between dark-cutting and normal pH beef. Dark cutting steaks had lower thiobarbituric acid reactive substances values (P < 0.0001) than normal pH steaks. The results indicate that characterizing the myoglobin chemistry during aging will help to design strategies to improve appearance of high pH beef. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), which first emerged in the United States in 2013, spread throughout the U.S. hog population. Limited preemptive knowledge impeded the understanding of PEDV introduction, spread, and prospective economic impacts in the United States. To assess these impacts, this article reviews the timeline of PEDV in the United States and the corresponding impacts. PEDV is a supply-impacting disease and is not demand inhibiting, as pork demand remained strong since PEDV first appeared. Pig losses reached significant levels during September 2013 through August 2014, with the majority of pork production impacts occurring in 2014. PEDV had differing impacts for subsectors of the pork industry. A budget model demonstrates that producers could have had pig losses and decreases in productivity proportionally smaller than price increases, resulting in net returns above what was expected before the major outbreak of PEDV. Previous literature is reviewed to identify the potential main industry beneficiaries of the PEDV outbreaks in the United States. As a result of reduced volumes of available pig and hog supplies, reductions in annual returns likely occurred for packers, processors, distributors, and retailers. In addition, pork consumers who experienced reduced-supply-induced pork-price increases were likely harmed directly by higher prices paid for pork and indirectly as prices of competing meats were also likely strengthened by PEDV. This article also identifies future considerations motivated by the appearance of PEDV in the United States, such as discussions of industry-wide efficiency and competitive advantage, the future role of PEDV vaccines, enhancement in biosecurity measures, and consumer perceptions of food safety and insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to assess genetic diversity among 5 Brazilian (155 animals) and 5 U.S. goat (120 animals) breeds using 23 microsatellite markers. Samples from the United States represented a broad geographic distribution whereas Brazilian samples were from the northeast region. Samples from Boer were common to each country's breed count. Expected and observed heterozygosity among breeds ranged from 0.55 to 0.72, suggesting ample genetic diversity in the breeds evaluated. United States Angora, U.S. Spanish, and Brazilian Nambi ranked highest for allelic richness, averaging 6.1, 7.1, and 6.5 alleles per locus, respectively. Angora and Spanish also ranked highest in private alleles (7 and 9, respectively). Using STRUCTURE, the U.S. Spanish were also found to share a common cluster assignment with Brazilian Nambi, suggesting that progenitor breeds may have been the same and passed through the Canary Islands or Cape Verde in route to the New World. When non-Boer breeds were pooled by country, the effect of the subpopulation compared with total population (Fst) = 0.05, suggesting minor genetic differences exist between countries. The lack of genetic structure among goat breeds when compared with other species (e.g., Bos taurus vs. Bos indicus) suggests goat breeds may exhibit a plasticity that facilitates productivity across a wide range of countries and environments. Taken a step further, the concept of breed for meat goats may not be as relevant for goat production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing efficiency in the cow-calf sector is an important step toward improving beef sustainability. The objective of the study was to use a model to identify the relative roles of reproductive, genetic, and nutritional management in minimizing beef production systems' environmental impact in an economically viable, socially acceptable manner. An economic and environmental diet optimizer was used to identify ideal nutritional management of beef production systems varying in genetic and reproductive technology use. Eight management scenarios were compared to a least cost baseline: average U.S. production practices (CON), CON with variable nutritional management (NUT), twinning cattle (TWN), early weaning (EW), sire selection by EPD using either on-farm bulls (EPD-B) or AI (EPD-AI), decreasing the calving window (CW), or selecting bulls by EPD and reducing the calving window (EPD-CW). Diets to minimize land use, water use, and/or greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were optimized under each scenario. Increases in diet cost attributable to reducing environmental impact were constrained to less than stakeholder willingness to pay for improved efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Baseline land use, water use, and GHG emissions were 188 m2, 712 L, and 21.9 kg/kg HCW beef. The NUT scenario, which assessed opportunities to improve sustainability by altering nutritional management alone, resulted in a simultaneous 1.5% reduction in land use, water use, and GHG emissions. The CW scenario improved calf uniformity and simultaneously decreased land use, water use, and GHG emissions by 3.2%. Twinning resulted in a 9.2% reduction in the 3 environmental impact metrics. The EW scenario allowed for an 8.5% reduction in the 3 metrics. The EPD-AI scenario resulted in an 11.1% reduction, which was comparable to the 11.3% reduction achieved by EPD-B in the 3 metrics. Improving genetic selection by using AI or by purchasing on-farm bulls based on their superior EPD demonstrated clear opportunity to improve sustainability. When genetic and reproductive technologies were adopted, up to a 12.4% reduction in environmental impact was achievable. Given the modeling assumptions used in this study, optimizing nutritional management while concurrently improving genetic and reproductive efficiency may be promising avenues to improve productivity and sustainability of U.S. beef systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companion animals play an important role in our lives and are now considered to be and treated as family members in a majority of households in the United States. Because of the high number of pets that now exist, an increasingly stronger pet-human bond, and the importance placed on health and longevity, the pet food industry has realized steady growth over the last few decades. Despite past successes and opportunities that exist in the future, there are also challenges that must be considered. This review will present a brief overview of the current pet food industry and address some of the key issues moving forward. In regards to companion animal research, recent advances and future needs in the areas of canine and feline metabolism, aging, clinical disease, and the gut microbiome using molecular and high-throughput assays; chemical, in vitro, and in vivo testing of feed ingredients; and innovative pet food processing methods is discussed. Training the future workforce for the pet food industry is also of great importance. Recent trends on student demographics and their species and careers of interest, changing animal science department curricula, and technology's impact on instruction are provided. Finally, the sustainability of the pet food industry is discussed. Focus was primarily placed on the disconnect that exists between opinions and trends of consumers and the nutrient recommendations for dogs and cats, the desire for increasing use of animal-based and humangrade products, the overfeeding of pets and the pet obesity crisis, and the issues that involve the evaluation of primary vs. secondary products in terms of sustainability. Moving forward, the pet food industry will need to anticipate and address challenges that arise, especially those pertaining to consumer expectations, the regulatory environment, and sustainability. Given the already strong and increasingly dynamic market for pet foods and supplies, an academic environment primed to supply a skilled workforce, and continued industry support for basic and applied research initiatives, the future of the pet food industry looks very bright. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the two upcoming sectional meetings of the American Society of Animal Science in 2018, including the Southern Section Meeting to be held in Texas during February 3 to 6, 2018 and Midwestern Section Meeting to be held in Nebraska during March 12 to 14, 2018.

The article discusses several meetings and conferences of 2017 including American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) sectional meeting from on June-20-23 and ASAS-Canadian Society of Animal Science (CSAS) annual meeting on July 8-12 and mentions the requirement of judges in ASAS-CSAS, and ASAS event.

Traditional feed composition tables have been a useful tool in the field of animal nutrition throughout the last 70 yr. The objective of this paper is to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with creating large feed ingredient composition tables. This manuscript will focus on three topics discussed during the National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP) Symposium in ruminant and nonruminant nutrition carried out at the American Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting in Austin, TX, on July 11, 2019, namely: 1) Using large datasets in feed composition tables and the importance of standard deviation in nutrient composition as well as different methods to obtain accurate standard deviation values, 2) Discussing the importance of fiber in animal nutrition and the evaluation of different methods to estimate fiber content of feeds, and 3) Description of novel feed sources, such as insects, algae, and single-cell protein, and challenges associated with the inclusion of such feeds in feed composition tables. Development of feed composition tables presents important challenges. For instance, large datasets provided by different sources tend to have errors and misclassifications. In addition, data are in different file formats, data structures, and feed classifications. Managing such large databases requires computers with high processing power and software that are also able to run automated procedures to consolidate files, to screen out outlying observations, and to detect misclassified records. Complex algorithms are necessary to identify misclassified samples and outliers aimed to obtain accurate nutrient composition values. Fiber is an important nutrient for both monogastrics and ruminants. Currently, there are several methods available to estimate the fiber content of feeds. However, many of them do not estimate fiber accurately. Total dietary fiber should be used as the standard method to estimate fiber concentrations in feeds. Finally, novel feed sources are a viable option to replace traditional feed sources from a nutritional perspective, but the large variation in nutrient composition among batches makes it difficult to provide reliable nutrient information to be tabulated. Further communication and cooperation among different stakeholders in the animal industry are required to produce reliable data on the nutrient composition to be published in feed composition tables., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science.)