Extension Service
Whole System Consideration, Downstream effects By Utah State University Beef Extension Specialist Matthew Garcia
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he Intermountain West is a very unique and challenging environment for the state’s beef producers. Being a native of a New Mexico cow-calf beef operation I understand that producers in this part of the world must really be in touch with and innovative with how they utilize their resources in order to remain profitable and sustainable. Being trained as a beef cattle geneticist many producers have heard me talk about multiple trait selection and matching your genetics to your production environment and resources. However, even I acknowledge that this is only one piece of the puzzle that must be considered in order to keep a beef production operation profitable. As such a major part of my USU beef cattle extension program has focused on whole system considerations and how a producers decision making process at one part of the production system will greatly influence production practices and outcomes downstream from that decision for years to come. For example, decisions made during breeding season will not only influence your operation at calving and marketing. The decisions at breeding have the potential to influence how well your newly incorporated cows utilize your range resources, how well they integrate as replacement breeding animals, the efficiency of your supplementation program, and they have the potential to influence your system for multiple years. The fact beef extension is focusing on whole system considerations and trying to provide information on novel topics to as many beef producers as possible has led us to incorporate novel approaches to disseminate extension materials. The first is that we are utilizing digital media and social media to disseminate our whole system consideration program. Our digital newsletter incorporated applied production information for beef cattle systems, forage systems and agricultural economics. This accompanied by the use of the USU Beef Extension Facebook page has allowed us to take advantage of these technologies that have not been vastly utilized in the past. The second part of our program that we have implemented is a beef producer educator program. This program generates and provides beef producers with materials to disseminate to the public to properly Utah Cattleman Seedstock Edition 72
educated and dispel some of the misconceptions of the beef industry. The beef producer educator program is vital as public perception can drive how our consumers feel about our product and subsequently if they decide to purchase it. The third thing we are implementing is an evaluation of technology and how it can be applied to the beef production system. For example, one project that we have proposed (as a multi extension specialist team) is the utilization of GPS technology in conjunction with genomic technology to critically evaluate actual bull power due to behavior in range systems. In this project bulls will be fitted with GPS collars prior to breeding season and their movements tracked. At calving season, all calves will have DNA extracted and we will be able to determine how many calves each bull is actually siring. This will allow us to correlate bull behavior and sire ability to give us another tool to critically evaluate which bulls will work in our system. The last part of our program affects how we conduct our traditional on-site extension programs. Traditionally, many of the extension specialists gave programs separate from each other and conducted programs that were not correlated in subject matter or production practices. Currently, myself, Dr. Eric Thacker (Range Extension Specialist) and Dr. Ryan Larsen in conjunction with Utah State University county faculty are developing on-site extension programs that encompass applied beef production practices, rangeland utilization and agricultural economics to further our program of whole system considerations. As we all know, these areas of beef production do not operate separately from each other, so why should our educational programs not take into consideration all these topics as well.? We believe that by conducting on site programs that present applied production system subject matter on multiple topics that have the potential to effect downstream production is necessary. As such, we look forward to future collaborations with our industry, our county faculty, our producers, and welcome any suggestions of new programs that need to be developed. As such please feel free to contact any of us with questions or concerns. VOLUME 5
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FEBRUARY 2018