Boise and the Treasure Valley played host to the Beef Improvement Federation’s (BIF) annual research symposium and convention June 1-4. Per event organizers and attendees, the event was a rousing success, with more than 400 attendees gathered to mingle and discuss the latest innovations in beef cattle genetics.
BIF is an organization dedicated to connecting science and industry to improve the efficiency, profitability and sustainability of beef production through genetic improvement. The annual event is a who’s who of thought leaders in beef academia, top seedstock and commercial producers, breed associations and respected voices from up and down the beef supply chain. The majority of attendees were from the U.S. and Canada, but sprinkled through dialogues could be found accents from Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
John Hall and Benton Glaze, both professors and beef cattle specialists with University of Idaho Extension, served as co-chairs for the local organizing committee, and they made a concerted effort to showcase Idaho’s unique cattle production and agriculture industry and culture.
In the lead-up to the symposium, their committee offered invaluable input to BIF administration as to the content of the program, suggesting speakers and topics, obtaining event sponsorships and helping attendees gain an appreciation for the beef industry and its connections with the rest of agriculture in Idaho.
“We tried to create a flavor of our area of the U.S.,” Hall said. “This was the first time it was in Idaho, so we made sure we had finger steaks and Basque food, things that are uniquely Idaho. … We wanted to give people an understanding of the breadth of the Idaho beef industry, all the way from seedstock and commercial producers through the feeding industry and the packing sector, and [we] even made sure they understood the role of the dairy industry in the beef industry in Idaho.”
Notably, Idaho’s Colyer Hereford and Angus was named BIF’s 2026 Seedstock Producer of the Year. The Colyer family has been grazing cattle in western Idaho’s high desert since 1876 and have become one of the most respected purebred breeders in the country.
Randall Raymond, director of research and veterinary services for Simplot Livestock, shares data on his company's research into the heritability of traits, such as average daily gain, feed intake and marbling at the 2026 BIF Symposium. Image by Tyrell Marchant.
Simplot’s leadership in beef genetics
As part of that “Idaho flavor,” Randall Raymond, director of research and veterinary services with Simplot Livestock, spoke to attendees about the company’s genetic approach to producing efficient, high-profit beef cattle. Though perhaps more famous for its contributions to the potato industry, Simplot is a respected name in the beef world, particularly where genetic research is involved. Since 2011, Simplot has been carefully analyzing the performance and genomic merit of its Charolais and Charolais-cross cattle to develop strong terminal lines of animals that perform well in the feedlot, on the plate and in producers’ bank accounts. Intensively selecting for feed intake, weight gain and marbling have been key in getting the results Simplot – and the market – are looking for.
“We [at Simplot] have always overweighted marbling in our economic index based on what the industry actually pays for marbling,” Raymond said. “We’ve done that because we feel like that is a part of the eating experience that we need to generate, even if the segmented portions of the industry don’t pay what that’s really worth.”
Raymond described how Simplot’s calf crop from 2024 to 2025 saw a massive, intentional jump in marbling. With the genomic analysis and technology available to livestock producers today, he believes that big year-to-year improvements in specific traits can soon be the norm for a lot of producers.
“We can change these traits overnight when we change our discipline and we change our focus,” he said. “If a trait can be measured and it’s heritable, we can, with discipline, apply selection pressure, and we can change populations.”
A popular stop on the BIF Idaho tour was the Simplot Land and Livestock feedlot in Grandview. Image by Tyrell Marchant.
Idaho beef industry tour
Each year, the BIF Symposium concludes with an all-day tour of local beef producers who have made genetic improvement a hallmark of their respective operations. The Idaho organizing committee felt that southwestern Idaho had too much to offer just one tour, so they offered attendees a choice of two different tours, which included stops at the following:
- CS Beef Packers and Simplot Animal Sciences in vitro fertilization (IVF) lab in Kuna
- TLK Dairy in Mountain Home
- Colyer Hereford and Angus Ranch in Bruneau
- Simplot Land and Livestock feedlot in Grandview
- Reynolds Creek Calf Ranch in Melba
- Amalgamated Sugar Company and PerforMix Nutrition Systems liquid supplement plant in Nampa
- Boise Valley Feeders in Parma
- PerforMix Nutrition Systems dry mineral and block plant in Fruitland
- M&M Feedlot in Parma
- Shaw Cattle Company in Caldwell
“The hard part [of organizing the tour] was not finding places to do it,” Hall said. “Beef cattle producers welcome others in the beef industry with open arms.”
At each stop, attendees spent time checking out facilities, looking at cattle and, perhaps most importantly, asking questions about each operation.
“We have so many things to show in the Treasure Valley," said Hall. “Driving through the area, you get to talk about the host of other aspects of Idaho agriculture that not only is Idaho a leader in but that have an impact and are a major input in the beef industry.”
