MU Herefords

The original MU Hereford herd was donated to the University of Missouri in the fall of 2003 and has grown to the present size of 30 females. Located at the South Farm, these cows are important in both teaching and research and over 500 students are enrolled in classes that use this herd.

The Hereford herd has an advisory group made up of progressive Hereford producers and is closely aligned with the Missouri Hereford Association and the American Hereford Association. The MU Hereford Herd places MU students in a unique position to experience cutting edge research and a focused breeding program, which targets economically relevant traits to maximize profitability. Students have the opportunity to participate in management of a seedstock herd which includes breeding, feeding and marketing. Students can also gain experience in artificial insemination, embryo transfer, electronic identification and ultrasound. They are involved in progeny testing of Hereford sires for traditional traits as well as being on the forefront of measuring Residual Feed Intake. Each year the Herefords are tested in the Grow Safe feeding system at the South Farm, the first Grow Safe system in the USA. Feed intake is measured on each individual animal and weights are taken to determine the efficiency of growth.

The focus of the breeding program is to produce Herefords which minimize the cost of production while enhancing consumer demand. The cattle must be fertile and problem free, efficient in growth and moderate in size. Furthermore, selection is based on targeting optimum ribeye area and Choice product.

Donors are selected to enter the embryo transfer program and elite sires are chosen. Artificial insemination is also utilized to capture the genes of superior Hereford cattle. Cattle not retained for research and teaching purposes are consigned to various sales.