Georgia to Host BIF Annual Meeting and Research Symposium

Young Producers Symposium will kick off BIF 2017 Wednesday, May 31.

A Young Producers Symposium will welcome participants May 31 to the 2017 Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Annual Meeting and Research Symposium in Athens, Ga. This year’s event will be May 31 to June 3 at the Athens Classic Center in Athens, Ga.

The Young Producers symposium is designed to network and equip young cattle producers with essential knowledge as they grow their role in the business. This year's session will feature presentations on how to build a cattle operation from the ground up, financial planning for young cattlemen and marketing challenges of today's cattle industry. Presenters include Kevin and Lydia Yon of Yon Family Farms, Ridge Spring, SC; Curt Lacy of Mississippi State University; and Amanda Radke of BEEF magazine.

The National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB) will explore the benefits of proven genetics and artificial insemination during a symposium Wednesday evening.

This year’s BIF symposium features two and a half days of educational programming and a full day of tours. The first morning’s general session, “The Current Value and Future Promise of Genomics for Beef Improvement,” will feature Keith Bertrand and Daniela Lourenco, University of Georgia; Tom Lawlor, Holstein Association USA; Matt Spangler, University of Nebraska; and Alison Van Eenennaam, University of California–Davis.

The second day’s general session, “Profitability Using the Tools We Have,” will include presentation by Todd Thrift, University of Florida; Darrh Bullock, University of Kentucky; Donnell Brown, R. A. Brown Ranch; Larry Keenan, Red Angus Association of America; Justin Rhinehart, University of Tennessee; and Darrell Busby, Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity Cooperative.

The afternoon breakout sessions will focus on a range of beef-production and genetic-improvement topics.

Each year the BIF symposium draws a large group of leading seedstock and commercial beef producers, academics and allied industry partners. The attendance list is a “who’s who” of the beef value chain, offering great networking opportunities and conversations about the issues of the day. Program topics focus on how the beef industry can enhance value through genetic improvement across a range of attributes that affect the value chain.

Registration options are available at www.beefimprovement.org. Angus Media is providing online coverage of this year's event at www.bifconference.com. Visit the Newsroom as the meeting progresses summaries of the presentations, proceedings paper, speaker slides, audio of the presentations and an archive of previous information.

For more conference details, contact University of Georgia host Ronnie Silcox at rsilcox@uga.edu or 706-542-9102.

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