In this Progressive Cattle Podcast episode, David visits with Kent Bacus, vice president of governmental affairs for the National Beef Cattle Association, at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference about trade negotiations with Canada, and Tyrell visits with Charley Martinez with the University of Tennessee about a study using artificial intelligence (AI) and tracking eye movement to gauge interest in what genetic information producers are looking at in bull sale catalogs.

As the agricultural industry continues to provide higher yields using fewer resources, innovation and improvements made on family operations drive the changes necessary to feeding an ever-growing population. For one of these operations, located in Elkader, Iowa, innovation began with a camcorder in a hog barn.

Depending on who you talk to, attitudes toward the use of implants in beef cattle production are very different. Most finishing yards are using implants today unless cattle are enrolled in a non-implant, natural or organic program that prohibits their use.

Adding females to a sale can be a big decision for a producer. The type of sale, where to focus marketing efforts and how to stay relevant in an ever-evolving business all play into the decision.

“Shrink, the unpaid loss of weight, is essentially an important cost of marketing,” says Chris Bastian, a professor in the department of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wyoming.