Breeding Cattle for a Hotter Future with Dr. Raluca Mateescu

Have you ever wondered why some cattle thrive better through an unusually hot summer?

Our guest this week, Dr. Raluca Mateescu, Professor of Quantitative Genetics and Genomics at the University of Florida, has been focusing on the impact of heat and climate on beef production in the southern regions of North America.

Raluca and her team have been looking into how to breed cattle to handle increasing temperatures, with a focus on improving productivity and achieving food security through genetic selection.

“Not all of our breeds are adapted to this environment so if we're going to try and raise cattle in these regions we need to figure out a way to do it to increase their adaptability to their environment", explains Raluca.

“In Florida, the purebred Angus is not going to be able to survive, because it's too hot.” Many of the producers in California cross the Angus with the Brahman to get better thermotolerance.

Mark asks what the biological differences are between an animal that can handle heat and one that can’t.

“The traits involved in the sweat gland area contribute to the adaptability in the Brahman cattle.  Beef cattle are able to lose 85% of the heat they produce through sweating.”  Raluca also explains that the smaller rumens of the Brahman also mean the breed produce less heat themselves during rumination.

Raluca tells Mark how they are looking for those animals with better adaptability to heat.

“Our resource population is about 5,000 head of cattle that we have collected a lot of data on in the last 6 or 7 years.  We measure their body temperature, take a skin biopsy for the measures we are taking in the lab.  We're measuring their coats and a bunch of other traits that are related to thermotolerance.  We also extract bloods and run a genomic profile on them.”

Their aim is to find genetic markers that will help producers identify animals with a higher thermotolerance without the need for expensive lab tests.  Something that could benefit us here in the future.

Until then, Raluca explains, “The coat score is something that's very easy for the producer to do right now."

If you would like to read more of Raluca’s research, you can visit her website here: https://www.ralucamateescu.com/

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