Cows grazing in a field. Photo courtesy MD of Greenview.

By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

Replacement heifers research project gets more funding from RDAR

Jul 16, 2025 | 1:03 PM

Results Driven Agricultural Research has announced more funding for a beef cattle genome project.

The $741, 960 is going to expand a project on replacement heifers that started in March of 2024 by the Canadian Hereford and Aberdeen Angus Associations.

The Canadian Charolais Association is joining the work.

The four year project tracked genotypes of cattle from 21 different commercial producers from the ranch to the feedlot and packing plant for information on performance.

This was then linked to predictions based on genomes that looked at growth rates, carcass quality, and reproductive traits. This would then allow ranchers to make decisions on what heifers to keep as replacements.

The breed associations are also working with three companies on what a release calls a “genomic selection tool” that would become part of farm management software offered by TELUS. The ranchers would retain ownership of their own data.