Recently, Southeast AgNet invited Dr. Chad Carr, University of Florida State Extension meat specialist, to sit down with us on the Grazing the Facts podcast. When asked if Dr. Carr could have done his research without funding from the Florida Cattle Enhancement Board, this is what he had to say.
“This tied together so many interesting pieces, right? We have such a unique population, and in this instance, we want to call out that population, right? To say, hey, this is representative of the cow herd of the southeast, right? And at a glop, this, everything’s not black, pure, you know, everything’s not a fuzzy black steer. This is a huge percentage of the beef industry. And so, if you would have taken that and you turned that into, I don’t know, some national organization, and it would have been perceived as being pretty regional, right? And it is, but man, it is a huge portion of the national system,” commented Dr. Carr.
Dr. Carr added, “So it, yeah, I don’t think it would have been smiled upon at a national level, I don’t think, regardless of how important it would be, right? But to be able to have a group of producers who recognize the importance of what, I mean, this is what happens here, right? We have Brahman-influenced cows, and a lot of folks are using a terminal bull on them. That’s what this is. These are the calves that we are producing.”
“And thus far, and it’s something that’s going to be pretty consequential, I think, maybe in terms of moving the needle in the beef industry, where no Indica-influenced cattle were being taken into that. So, and then with this, man, we got all the genetic answers too. So pretty, pretty unique opportunity. I’m Very thankful,” said Dr. Carr.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.