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David Gust speaks at an April 23rd news conference announcing
his family’s gift of an extensive Angus breeding database
to MU. Jim Curley photo
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MU
Livestock Research
Receives Important Boost
By Greg Horstmeier
University of
Missouri-Columbia officials announced April 23 a historic donation
from one of the nation’s top private
livestock producers.
The 17 megabytes of detailed animal performance
data on approximately 6,000 animals, including DNA samples, is
believed to be the first such gift to a public institution.
The gift, from the David W. Gust family,
owners of Circle
A Ranch in Iberia, Mo., is valued at $5.6 million.
“To
some people, this may seem just a CD ROM full of data and a
freezer full of DNA samples,” said Jerry Taylor,
MU Wurdack Endowed Chair for Animal Genomics. “But to
those of us in livestock genetics, and to the livestock industry
as a whole, it’s practically priceless. There simply
isn’t
another set of records and DNA this complete and of this magnitude
on the planet. So we’re very pleased that the Gusts decided
to donate this information to MU.”
Livestock producers
and researchers have long known that certain cattle create more
meat with less feed, some have carcasses with better tasting,
or leaner meat, more tender T-bones, or a host of other traits
that consumers want.
Before the age of genomics, finding those
animals meant keeping meticulous records on breeding animals
and their offspring, recording the offspring’s performance
during its life, then confirming the desirable traits once the
animal was slaughtered.
That process requires five years just
to collect the information on one generation, Taylor said. The
geneticist and animal scientist has spent his career searching
for the genes and gene sequences that control traits such as
feed efficiency, marbling, fat production, and other meat characteristics,
in order to develop a way to find an animal’s potential
with a quick DNA test.
“With this gift, we can look through
the Circle A performance data, find the animals with desirable
traits, then find the DNA from that animal, and through DNA sequencing,
look for the genes that create the variation in those traits.”
Once
the genes or groups of genes are found, Taylor and other scientists
will use that information to develop DNA tests that help cattle
producers choose bulls and cows that will produce calves with
particular traits, and sort the animals already in the herd according
to nutrition needs or other management strategies.
“Beef producers have become businessmen, in the business
of creating a product consumers want for their dining experience,”
said Eugene “Doc” Hinds, adjunct professor of veterinary
medicine, and a long-term adviser to Circle A. “The
Gust family have always been focused on building a herd that
had the traits the market wants, and on the traits that allow
the most efficient, economical meat production.”
“Now we’re ready to take meat
production to the next level, using genetic information to select
desirable animals ahead of time, rather than feeding them, slaughtering
them, and seeing if they do or do not have the traits consumers
want,” Hinds
said.
The timing of the Gust family donation adds
to the special nature of the announcement, said Thomas Payne,
vice chancellor and dean of the College
of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
“Life sciences, chief among them the disciplines involving
food production and human nutrition, are such a critical part
of what this University is about and will be about in the future,”
Payne said. “We are also extremely fortunate to have among
our faculty Wurdack Chair Jerry Taylor, who is one of the leading
scientists in the world searching for the genes that contribute
to important livestock traits such as quality meat production,
high feed efficiency and disease resistance. The work Jerry and
his associates are conducting can revolutionize the meat production
business around the world. And that is critical to Missourians,
as we are the No. 2 state in the nation in number of cow/calf
operations.
“This gift, coming to MU at this time,
just increased the likelihood of their research success by an
incalculable amount,”
Payne said. “It is unprecedented, and it will go done in
the annals of this university as one of the significant things
that helped MU become an important life sciences institution.”
This donation is one of many ways the Gust
family has contributed to MU. Other contributions include $100,000
for a bovine reproduction study conducted by Randall Prather,
MU distinguished professor of reproductive biotechnology, and
other scientists. The Gusts also donated a show-quality Angus
heifer to the MU Ag Alumni Association Ag Unlimited Banquet and
Auction. The heifer sold for $3,200—a
record for a single-item purchase at the auction. Proceeds from
that annual event are used for scholarships and other student
programs within CAFNR.
“We’ve had so many strong relationships
with the scientists at MU as we have worked to create our herd,” said
Dave Gust.
“We probably wouldn’t have thought to begin keeping
the DNA samples if it weren’t for folks here. So we are
very proud and very happy to continue to work with MU and make
this donation to the scientists here.”
Circle A has satellite
ranches in Stockton, Mo., Huntsville, Mo., and Lineville, Iowa.
The ranch includes some 700 registered Angus and Red Angus females,
plus some 6,000 Angus-cross females. It globally markets semen
from the ranch’s bull herd, top
females and frozen embryos, and has been recognized with numerous
awards in the livestock industry.
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Last Update:
November 15, 2007
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