GrowSafe Systems Ltd. announces today they have entered into a new research agreement with West Virginia University to determine the relationship between the selection for feed efficiency in cattle and the contribution to environmental footprint of livestock production.
“We have a long-standing relationship with GrowSafe to propel our methods of research into a new era.” said Matt Wilson, associate dean for research in the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design. “Through this partnership, we aim to study methods to better measure forage intake on pasture, feed efficiency and the effects on the ecosystem. Then, we will study the efficiency of a commercial calf herd sired by bulls selected for high or low feed efficiency to assess the impact of those selections to the commercial producer.”
“I believe this research will prove fundamental to explaining the complex interaction between cattle, the land and the surrounding environment and showing unequivocally that efficient cattle are a valuable contribution to a healthy ecosystem.” said Gareth Llewellyn, chief executive officer, GrowSafe Systems. “At GrowSafe we believe that through the use of data we can help create a sustainable beef industry. We believe the responsibility sits on us, the technology providers, to work together to come up with a way of getting our data to producers in an easy, helpful and valuable way.”
The five-year research commitment extends a 17-year partnership. In 2003, WVU was the second university to install GrowSafe technology. Researchers used the state-of-the-art technology to generate data to compare bulls objectively across systems and tested the first group of bulls marketed with a genetic prediction of residual feed intake. The continued partnership will allow for a better understanding of the role of feed efficiency in grazing cattle which represents 85% of the nearly 94 million beef cattle in the United States.