As it always is, the 2025 edition of the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Symposium – hosted June 9-12 in Amarillo, Texas, by West Texas A&M University – delivered boatloads of cutting-edge research results and practical applications of genetic tools.

Efficient. Sustainable. Profitable. Productive. Economical. They feel like buzzwords, yet they’ve maintained their lofty position in the cattle industry zeitgeist for long enough now that it’s impossible to shy away from the inevitability – and even merit – of defining and reaching for such ideals.

The usual suspects (expected progeny differences [EPDs], genomic testing, heterosis) were covered, as were some issues (beef-on-dairy, methane emissions, cardiac health) that may have been a bit more of a surprise to the uninitiated at an event ostensibly dedicated to beef cattle genetics.