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Contact Information

Craig Wood, Ph.D
Acting Associate Dean & Director
UK Cooperative Extension Service

S-107 Ag. Science Center North Lexington, KY 40546-0091

+1 (859) 257-4302

craig.wood@uky.edu

Impacts

Contact Information

Craig Wood, Ph.D
Acting Associate Dean & Director
UK Cooperative Extension Service

S-107 Ag. Science Center North Lexington, KY 40546-0091

+1 (859) 257-4302

craig.wood@uky.edu




Fiscal Year:
Jul 1, 2020 - Jun 30, 2021


Success StoryBack-to-Basics - GCF Angus Farm



Back-to-Basics - GCF Angus Farm

Author: Leslie Anderson

Planning Unit: Animal and Food Sciences

Major Program: Beef

Outcome: Intermediate Outcome

Survey data from the USDA indicates that most beef cattle producers in the US do not use many management protocols that have been proven to improve productivity and/or profitability. Some examples include breeding soundness exams in bulls, pregnancy determination in cows, controlled calving seasons, vaccinations, and forage management. The Back-to-Basics University of Kentucky Extension Program is designed to identify 10 farms in Kentucky that want to improve their management by incorporating proven management techniques and recording the outcomes of the new management protocol. This success story involves a beef cattle operation named GCF Angus Farms. This farm is in Marshall County and is a seedstock operation. This farm is a prime example of a farm that thinks they are using modern management protocols but didn’t have a true understanding and numerous new protocols were initiated. The biggest problem on this operation was pinkeye. More than 70% of the animals (30 cows plus calves) annually were treated for pinkeye. We worked with a local veterinarian to help develop a autogenous pinkeye vaccine, used fly tags, and clipped pastures and the incidence decreased to less than 5%. Two rounds of AI using sex-sorted semen was to help fine tune the genetic profile. More than 75% of the mature cows conceived to the sex-sorted semen. The forage program was completely revised and a new system for heifer development was implemented. Advances on GCF Angus were demonstrated in two field days attended by over 50 local cattle producers.






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