Additional BIF milestones have included:

• Guidance for the standardization and incorporation of ultrasound data into performance evaluation.

• Discussions about composites and crossbreeding.

• Recommending Total Herd Reporting for all breed associations.

• Use of DNA markers in genetic selection prediction.

• Development of Economically Relevant Traits (ERT) and selection indexes.

Ron Bolze, a former executive director of BIF now with the Red Angus Association of America, credits much of BIF's accomplishments to the work that takes place in its six standing committees.

Of BIF's contributions, Bolze says, “It's been a 40-year, think-tank session that's brought together some of the industry's deepest minds to ponder where the beef-cattle industry needed to evolve to from a genetic prediction perspective.”

Larry Corah, a former Kansas State University (KSU) Extension beef specialist now with Certified Angus Beef, adds, “We've modified many genetic predictors but done so as additional technologies and information came available. And, ultimately out of that, the beef industry has very sound guidelines based on a sound group of people who formulated those decisions.”

Corah concludes, “I don't believe we would have made the genetic progress as an industry had BIF not existed.”

As new technology continues to evolve, so will BIF's guidance for the benefit of the industry. One current issue is incorporation of DNA marker test results into genetic evaluation programs.

“Most breeds and most breeders are struggling with how to efficiently and effectively combine traditional performance testing programs with genomic tools to optimize accuracy of selection. The scientific community may present an array of options, but it will likely be BIF and its member organizations that ultimately shape the future of genetic evaluation,” says Twig Marston, BIF executive director.

KSU breeding and genetics professor Dan Moser identifies selection for reduced feed intake and multi-breed genetic evaluation as additional issues the industry has deemed important. He says, “It's difficult to project what issues are around the corner, but whatever they are, BIF will be one of the first places for breeders to learn about them and provide feedback.”

What has the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) meant to beef producers? Two well-known seedstock breeders share the value to their operations.

Virginia seedstock operator James Bennett of Knoll Crest Farm, says, “BIF has had the most positive influence on my operation of any organization I belong to.”

Bennett served as president of BIF in 1979 and considers himself fortunate to have had the opportunity to work alongside researchers, beef specialists and producers from across the country. Bennett says, “There's no better means of education than direct exposure, and the ‘show and tell’ aspect of BIF has been effective.”

From his own experience, Bennett saw his first Gelbvieh cattle while touring the Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, NE, as part of the BIF meeting held in 1981. Shortly thereafter, he brought his first Gelbvieh to Virginia.

Of the many guidelines and standards BIF has helped establish for genetic selection and improvement, Bennett says, “I see BIF as putting a guard rail on either side of the road to keep us [the industry] out of the ditch.”

Steve Radakovich of Iowa says, “Had technology not been used or dispersed through a group like BIF, I think the beef industry would really miss the nucleus of people who have made significant changes in beef-cattle improvement. BIF has been very beneficial to family farms like my own because it gave us accessibility to performance data that we maybe wouldn't have had. Instead, it could have been controlled by large companies, as is the case in the poultry industry today.”

Radakovich, who was president of BIF in 1983, concludes, “BIF has really helped sustain the seedstock family farmer and made him competitive with everyone else in the business, which I think is a real attribute.”