Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle: UW and BRTF host annual ARSBC Symposium in CheyenneApplied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle:

Cheyenne – On Sept. 6-7, the University of Wyoming (UW) joined the Beef Reproduction Task Force (BRTF) in hosting the annual Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle (ARSBC) Symposium at the Little America Hotel and Resort. 

The convention brought in producers, veterinarians, artificial insemination (AI) technicians, students and other members of the beef industry from across the U.S. and provided educational programming on a wide array of topics including estrous synchronization and AI protocols, nutritional management, brucellosis, male fertility, sire selection considerations, bull development, herd health and more. 

According to UW Extension Beef Specialist Shelby Rosasco, BRTF is made up of research and Extension specialists from around the nation, and the annual symposium is cohosted with state Extension programs to distribute the latest information on reproductive technology in cattle production.

Welcome to Wyoming

To kick off this year’s symposium, Rosasco, BRTF Chair Vitor Mercadante and Associate Dean and Director of UW Extension Kelly Crane welcomed attendees and thanked them for making the trip to Cheyenne.

“Welcome to the 2023 ARSBC Symposium. It’s always a pleasure to host this meeting, and we hope you enjoy it. We are excited to hear from all of our speakers and to interact with everyone as much as we can,” stated Mercadante before introducing other BRTF members and thanking event sponsors. 

“I want to offer a genuine welcome to the state of Wyoming and to Cheyenne. We are tickled to have you here,” said Crane during his turn at the mic. “We are proud of our university, we are proud of our state, we are proud of our faculty and we are proud of our students. We are proud of Shelby and her work and the work of this group. We feel very blessed to work in Wyoming and to serve the ag industry and communities in this state.”

He continued, “I want to convey my genuine appreciation for the work of this task force and all of the individual contributions to this work. It is always encouraging to see a collaborative effort connecting basic and applied research with Extension, and the task force does this in spades.”

2023 educational

programming

Following the welcome and introduction, Mercadante started educational programming for the day with his presentation on understanding and controlling the estrous cycle. 

Texas A&M University’s (TAMU) George Perry and University of Idaho’s Joe Dalton then discussed how to be successful when using natural service and estrous synchronization, and Merlyn Sandbulte talked about cryogenic concerns. 

To round out the morning session, Kansas State University’s (KSU) Sandy Johnson provided insight on tools to put an estrous synchronization plan into action and a panel discussion looked at things that make an AI and synchronization program successful.

After lunch, KSU’s Jennifer Borman explained new research for genetic prediction of male fertility; TAMU’s Ky Pohler and Mario Binelli of the University of Florida (UF) teamed up to tackle post breeding management strategies to minimize pregnancy loss and New Mexico State University’s Eric Sholljegerdes discussed managing the cow herd for fertility in limited feed environments. 

The first day of the event rounded out with a presentation on management strategies to enhance fertility and longevity in replacement heifers from Rosasco and UF’s Philipe Moriel, followed by an award ceremony and a question and answer session. 

On the second day, Colorado State University’s Dr. Tim Holt and Mark Enns looked at selecting sires to work at high altitudes, Dr. Kerry Sondgeroth of the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave a presentation titled “Brucellosis 101” and University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Dr. Rebecca Funk talked about calving management. 

The program concluded with a presentation on the impact of over conditioning on bull fertility, given by Pedro Fontes of the University of Georgia and UW’s Jeremy Block discussed the basics of embryo transfer. 

Look for more articles from the ARSBC Symposium in future editions of the Roundup. 

Hannah Bugas is the managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.