Beef Cattle Research

Project Title: Appalachia Pasture-Based Beef Production Systems Regional Project

Investigator(s): Terry Swecker, Ron Lewis, Mark Wahlberg

Project Summary:

The overall goal of this project is to develop innovative concepts and practices to enhance the efficiency, profitability, and sustainability of grassland-based beef production systems in the Appalachian region of the United States. Major components of this project include cow-calf production, post-weaning studies, pasture-finishing systems, product quality, and marketing. West Virginia University, Clemson University, and USDA-ARS are partners with Virginia Tech in this project.

The different phases of the Appalachia Pasture-Based Beef Production Systems Regional Project are:

In addition to the Appalachia Pasture-Based Beef Production Systems Regional Project, research is also conducted in the areas of post-weaning stress and immunology of weaned calves, forage-based heifer development, and sire and dam frame size and its impact on production and carcass quality, including projects to:

Evaluate the use of variation in frame scores of sire and dams and different creep grazing systems to expand the harvest window of grass-fed beef. (Swecker, Tracy, Wahlberg, Lewis).
Identify life cycle risk factors relevant to meat quality. (Swecker, Wahlberg, Lewis).
Evaluate ability of high quality forage to minimize weight loss after weaning. (Tracy, Swecker, Wahlberg, Lewis).
Evaluate the effect of alternative weaning techniques on cattle behavior and stress markers. (Swecker, Lewis, Wahlberg).
Characterize the relationship between cattle behavior and carcass quality (Wahlberg, Swecker).
Establish the impact of continuous-use pasture on disease incidence and weight gain of young stock. (Zajac, Swecker).

Field Day Proceedings