Executive Summary

            Beef is the most popular meat in America, with per capita consumption in 1997 at 63.6 pounds (USDA-boneless weight), compared to 49.3 pounds for chicken and 45.7 pounds for pork. In 1997, U.S. cattle ranchers produced 25.4 billion pounds of beef with a total retail value of $50.6 billion. American consumers spent an average of $186.03 per person on beef in 1997.  Nearly eight percent of U.S. beef is produced for export with a total value of $4.7 billion (compared to $2.9 billion in imports).

            The production of high-quality, healthy, and affordable beef begins by identifying the best breeding animals.  For selective breeding, Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs) have been the most important tool available to seedstock and commercial producers of beef cattle.  Analysis of beef records for EPDs for the vast majority of seedstock cattle in the United States occurs at four universities: Colorado State University, Cornell University, University of Georgia, and Iowa State University.  These institutions have long histories in genetic evaluation (tracing back to the late 1970s and early 1980s) and are unique in their faculty expertise and ability to implement these programs. The success of genetic evaluation has also been greatly influenced by the existence of an established delivery system for making EPDs readily available to all producers.  This delivery system includes breed associations through their sire summaries reporting EPDs and AI organizations and seedstock producers through their dissemination of superior genetics based on EPDs. Evidence for successful use of EPDs is the marked genetic trends for economically important traits.  The ability to influence the genetics of U.S. beef cattle has enhanced our competitiveness of beef production both domestically and globally.  Historically, this highly effective production and delivery chain has been a grass roots effort, funded almost entirely by the beef breed organizations (unlike the USDA dairy genetic evaluation program at Beltsville, Maryland).

            However, the leadership and competitiveness of the U.S. seedstock industry is threatened by large investments made in recent years by other countries' governments in their beef breeding stock genetic evaluation programs.  Countries such as Brazil and Australia have realized that one of the keys to producing products that compete with U.S. beef producers is the adoption of genetic evaluation systems like those in the U.S. 

            This prospectus proposes a consortium that brings together the four universities that have been primarily responsible for the research and production of beef cattle genetic evaluation in the U.S.  The consortium is seeking a special grant of approximately $9 million in funding over five years to develop improved genetic prediction technologies to ensure the U.S. beef industry’s long-term viability.  During the five-year period, we expect the industry to provide at least $1,800,000 directly to the four universities.  Additionally, the universities will contribute more then $1,750,000 in nonfederal matching funds in the five-year period.