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two approaches led to some pretty good arguments.” At that time, some were leaning heavily toward ad- vancing methodology and figuring out how to stan- dardize data collection and utilization, which then led to discussion about the direc- tion of the seedstock indus- try. During this critical time in the industry, BIF facili- tated this direction through the exchange of ideas. Mark Enns, Ph.D., profes- sor of animal breeding and genetics at Colorado State University and organizer of the 2018 BIF Symposium, also got his first exposure to BIF as a graduate student in the ‘80s. “BIF helped cre- ate the unified vision for ge- netic improvement through- out the beef industry and established common ground for all the breed associa- tions and all the cooperative breed improvement groups to work under,” Enns says. “We cannot discount the brilliant minds who came up with the idea for BIF and recognized the need for it.” Throughout the years, BIF has made significant contri- butions to the beef industry, particularly the seedstock sector. “BIF has allowed the smaller, family seedstock producer to compete on the same playing field with the larger seedstock producer,” Radakovich says. “BIF stan- dardized evaluation so that the smaller operators could utilize the methodology, could pursue an objective selection process and could compete with larger opera- tions. Without the standard methodology, they would not have access to those tools.”

Current BIF President Donnell Brown, R.A. Brown Ranch, Throckmorton, Texas, remembers his first BIF meeting. “BIF was the first cattle meeting I went to after I graduated from college,” Brown says. “I was able to talk with the scientists whose research I had stud- ied and talk to the breeders

whose catalogs I had been pouring through. They were the leaders in the beef industry. It was inspira- tional. “There was no policy and no politics. It was just a meeting about the facts and how we would use the resources we had to more

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