Good morning, fellow animal lovers! I am pleased to announce that my research will begin bright and early tomorrow morning. This summer we will be accessing forage quality with the ultimate goal of switching to a grass-fed system for the beef cattle herd at the Austin Peay Environmental Education Center aka "The Farm". With the current trends in population growth, it is anticipated that the human population will increase to more than 9 billion by 2050. That means we have to increase meat production by nearly 75% with fewer resources available! More meat production with less land? Huh? How do we accomplish this?
Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency! We need to be more efficient in production without over-exploiting our natural resources. This is where our research will be put to use. Our goal is to gain an understanding of our forage availability in order to properly
manage our pastures. Forage management is vital to profitability as it is the lowest cost feedstuffs available. Oh, and not to mention that it is less laborious than feeding hay everyday!
We will also be analyzing the productivity of our beef cattle herd in order to identify our most efficient cows for future breeding. Perhaps my EPD charts I did for Dr. Mills will be of use! I am extremely excited about this wonderful opportunity and I will be documenting my adventure here, so be sure to stay tuned!
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