The Breeding and Genetics group is involved in research, teaching, and outreach activities. The group currently includes two full time faculty, three affiliate faculty, and two full time research associates. Graduate student and post-doctoral researcher numbers typically range from 5 to 10. While the group’s primary focus is on beef cattle, other work in the group involves the horse and sheep industries. Faculty in the group are active members of international coordinated research committees on beef cattle breeding in the western region, national cattle evaluation methodology, and beef cattle feed efficiency. Collaborations include a wide range of projects related to beef genetics in the U.S., Canada, South America, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, and Scotland. A few ongoing projects include:

• Development and implementation of genetic evaluation and improvement programs for economically relevant traits related to fertility and reproduction, maternal productivity, efficiency of feed utilization, feedlot health, and carcass merit.
• Deployment and testing of specialized software for genetic analyses and genetic improvement decision support.
• Polygenic and candidate gene or marker approaches to improving accuracy of genetic evaluation.
• Genetics of resistance to bovine respiratory and feedlot diseases, and development of methods for genetic evaluation of animal health traits.
• Development and deployment of distributed online learning courses in animal breeding.
  

The group maintains a central Linux computing facility and network which is located within the Department of Animal Sciences and serves faculty, staff, graduate students, and the CSU Center for Genetic Evaluation of Livestock (CGEL). Currently, CGEL conducts genetic evaluations and research for 22 beef cattle breed associations and producer groups from the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and Ireland. CSU-CGEL is a founding member of the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium, and works with geneticists at Cornell University, the University of Georgia, and other institutions to prototype, develop, improve, and implement methods for national cattle evaluation of economically relevant traits.

The Breeding and Genetics group has access to several beef cattle research and demonstration herds. Most notably, the John E. Rouse CSU Beef Improvement Center (BIC) is located near Saratoga, Wyoming. The BIC was donated to CSU by the Rouse family in 1986, and includes approximately 450 Angus cows bred to produce calves with high calving ease, rapid early growth, high fertility, and adaptability to high altitude. The herd at BIC has been used extensively in support of research on the genetics of reproduction and high altitude disease, and for development of new strategies for estrous synchronization and artificial insemination.

The CSU Beef Improvement Center is a part of the CSU Beef Alliance, an integrated beef production system that includes CSU beef herds located at the Agriculture Research Development and Education Center (ARDEC) near Wellington, Colorado, the Eastern Colorado Research Center (ECRC), located near Akron, CO, and the CSU feedlot at ARDEC. The Alliance is designed to maximize collaborative use of CSU beef herd resources and facilities, and to mimic the structure of the U.S. beef industry. The Alliance provides CSU researchers and collaborators with the ability to evaluate the impact of management and genetic changes at the ranch level on all sectors of the industry in terms of both animal and economic performance.

In 2008-09, part of the CSU feedlot at ARDEC was equipped to record individual feed intake on approximately 750 growing cattle annually. This facility is utilized by the Breeding and Genetics group to study the genetics of feed utilization, environmental impact mitigation strategies for the feedlot sector, and genomic approaches for improvement of efficiency. A large project in the group on genetics of health is conducted in feedlot facilities at the Southeastern Colorado Research Center (SECRC) in Lamar, Colorado.

Faculty & Staff

Dr. Mark Enns
Associate Professor
970.491.2722
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Dr. Denny Crews
Professor
970.491.7550
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Scott Speidel
Research Associate
970.491.5419
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Brian Brigham
Research Associate
970.491.5419
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Courses Offered