PrimeTime spring 2018

BIF Celebrates 50 Years

BY LISA BARD, EDITOR

Embassy Suites Convention Center in Loveland. Each year, the symposium focuses on research, innova- tion and education for pro- ducers and scientists alike on current issues facing the beef cattle industry “to con- nect science and industry to improve beef cattle genet- ics.” BIF’s three-leaf-clover logo symbolizes the link between industry, Extension and research. “This meeting is where the appropriate application of science is developed by discussions of the people using the science and the people developing it.” – Mark Enns, Ph.D. The Beginnings In the late ‘60s and ‘70s when BIF was formed, the cattle industry was expe- riencing a great deal of change with the influx of Continental breeds and the implementation of artificial insemination and cross- breeding. Many states had Beef Cattle Improvement Associations (BCIA) but no standard procedures or measurements. At the same time, land-grant universities were conducting more re- search on genetics and how genetic evaluation could improve cattle herds. The germplasm research being

conducted at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center would provide incentive and data to create and formulate genetic evaluation, and oth- er data collected by produc- ers and breed associations would add to that. Creating and utilizing new evaluation methods based on performance versus visual appraisal was not an easy road. The first step was to standardize performance testing, including the termi- nology, the actual methods of measurement and the education as to what the information meant. Over the years, there were a few growing pains and disagree- ments, but the common goal prevailed. Steve Radakovich of Ra- dakovich Cattle Company, Earlham, Iowa, was presi- dent of BIF in 1983-1984, when BIF was still young and evolving. “Back then we were a bit of a divided camp. We had one group who were the ‘weigh and pray’ folks,” Ra- dakovich says. “They would stand by the scales and pray that the animal weighed more than he did the time before. Then there was the systems group, which I was a part of, who asked ques- tions such as ‘Is bigger re- ally better?’ “The weigh and pray guys thought that the systems guys were nuts and these 

T he Beef Improve- ment Federation (BIF) is celebrating 50 years in 2018. hemed “Elevating the In- dustry,” the Annual Meeting and Research Symposium is poised not only to celebrate the last 50 years but launch into the next 50. BIF was officially founded in 1968, but the formation began the previous January during a meeting at Nation- al Western Stock Show. At that time, a group of produc- ers and researchers – spear- headed by Colorado cattle producer, lawyer and perfor- mance evaluation advocate Ferry Carpenter and Frank Baker, the federal Extension livestock specialist in 1967 – met with the goal to move the cattle industry from its historical basis of visual appraisal to one of perfor- mance-based evaluation. Thus began a very power- ful and intentional “perfor- mance movement” in the cattle industry that contin- ues and thrives today. Fifty years later, the 2018 BIF An- nual Meeting and Research Symposium will return to Colorado, June 20-23 at the

Akaushi Prime Time • Spring 2018

32