Show-Me-Select: Technology and Genomics Pave the Way for Successful Heifer Development in Missouri by Brandi Buzzard Frobose, RAAA Director of Communications
How does a replacement heifer program generate $150 million in contributions to the Missouri economy, attract buyers from 20 additional states and involve producers from 96 percent of the Show-Me state’s counties? Short answer: It touts a qualification protocol that yields such positive returns, producers enroll and carry out the procedures without any intention of selling their cattle through the program. That, in a nutshell, is the ShowMe-Select Replacement Heifer Program. Since its inception in 1997, the ShowMe-Select Replacement Heifer Program has enrolled more than 136,000 heifers from more than 850 Missouri farms and ranches, with gross sales of more than $50 million. The program has attracted more than 10,000 prospective buyers from more than 20 states; all who bid to take home topshelf heifers to increase the quality of their herds. Perhaps even more impressive is that only 25 percent of the enrolled heifers sell through the program. The remainder are retained on-farm for herd im-
spread adoption and infiltration into the Missouri beef industry.
David Hoffman
Dr. Jared Decker
provement purposes and the results speak for themselves. David Hoffman, University of Missouri Livestock Specialist, attests that the Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer Program has improved the quality of cattle statewide. Hoffman has been involved with the program since the inaugural sale in Kingsville, Missouri, in 1999, and explains that some Missouri herds are comprised entirely of Show-Me-Select females, going all the way back to the oldest cows on the operation. There is likely not a better testament to the value and significance than its wide-
When Dr. David Patterson, professor of Animal Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri, founded the Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer Program in 1997, he had one major goal in mind: Create a conduit for the beef industry to use technology and improve heifer development. Dr. Patterson had extensive experience in Kentucky working with beef producers on value-added programs and during his time there had noticed that many heifers were underdeveloped and had not reached puberty by the first breeding season. These underdeveloped heifers were breeding late and were a step behind from the very beginning. His goal was to demonstrate to producers that utilizing technologies like timed AI, ultrasound and having a good understanding of EPDs would lead to better heifers and a higher-quality beef herd. When Dr. David Patterson, professor of Animal Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri, founded the Show-MeSelect Replacement Heifer Program in 1997, he had one major goal in mind: Create a conduit for the beef industry to use technology and improve heifer development.
24 American Red Angus Magazine n May/June 2018