ID-140: Kentucky Beef Quality Assurance Program

Jim Akers, Donna Amaral-Phillips, Roy Burris, John Johns, Gregg Rentfrow, Patty Scharko | Feb. 6, 2015 (Reprinted)

Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) is a program developed to ensure that beef and dairy cattle are managed in a manner that will result in safe and wholesome beef and milk products for the consumer. Specifically, BQA is designed to enhance carcass quality by preventing drug residues, injection-site blemishes, and bruises. The Kentucky Beef Quality Assurance Program is based on recommended national guidelines and scientific research. This program enables beef and dairy producers to enhance their product, maximize marketability, and strengthen consumer confidence.

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ASC-221: Keeping and Using Flock Performance Records

Debra Aaron | Dec. 17, 2014 (New)

Performance records serve as the cornerstone of any good livestock management program. Unfortunately, the task of collecting, maintaining and using performance records is the one area of livestock production in general that gets the least attention. This fact sheet provides ten reasons why all sheep producers need to keep performance records on their flocks. Then, some ways of maintaining and using those records are discussed.

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ASC-220: Basic Sheep Genetics

Debra Aaron | Dec. 16, 2014 (New)

Genetics is the science of heredity. It seeks to explain differences and similarities exhibited by related individuals. The application of genetics to livestock improvement is known as animal breeding. The objective of this fact sheet is to provide a refresher course on basic genetics and to show how knowledge of genetics can be used to improve sheep production.

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ASC-223: Inbreeding in Sheep

Debra Aaron | Dec. 16, 2014 (New)

Inbreeding is broadly defined as the mating of individuals that are related. Strictly speaking, however, all animals within a breed are related. So, in a sense, every purebred sheep producer practices some degree of inbreeding. In most cases this relationship is very slight. Therefore, inbreeding is more practically defined as the mating of individuals more closely related than the average of the breed. This practice includes mating brother to sister, sire to daughter and son to dam.

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ASC-224: Crossbreeding Considerations in Sheep

Debra Aaron | Dec. 16, 2014 (New)

Crossbreeding is the mating of individuals from different breeds. To a certain extent, it is a simple concept, but embarking upon a crossbreeding program, in sheep or any other livestock species, involves long-term decisions. The primary benefits of a crossbreeding program are heterosis and breed complementarity.

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ASC-219: An Introduction to Sheep

Debra Aaron, Don Ely | Dec. 16, 2014 (New)

The information in this fact sheet was developed to provide a quick reference to the most frequently asked questions about sheep and sheep production.

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ASC-222: Sheep Breeding: Heritability, EBVs, EPDs, and the NSIP

Debra Aaron | Dec. 16, 2014 (New)

Genetic improvement in a flock depends on the producer's ability to select breeding sheep that are genetically superior for traits of economic importance. This is complicated by the fact that an animal's own performance is not always a true indicator of its genetic potential as a parent.

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ASC-217: So You Want to Produce Your Own Eggs?

Jacquie Jacob, Tony Pescatore | Dec. 4, 2014 (New)

Backyard chicken flocks are becoming popular throughout the country in urban, suburban and rural communities. Preparation is essential for a successful backyard flock. This publication will give you the information you need decide if producing your own eggs is right for you.

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PR-685: 2014 Cool-Season Grass Horse Grazing Tolerance Report

Garry Lacefield, Laurie Lawrence, Gene Olson, Tim Phillips, Ray Smith | Dec. 4, 2014 (New)

Cool-season grasses such as bluegrass, tall fescue, and orchardgrass are dominant pasture grasses for horses in Kentucky. Variety evaluations for yield have been carried out for many years, but little work has been done to establish the effect of variety on persistence when subjected to close, continuous grazing by horses. The purpose of this report is to summarize current research on the grazing tolerance of varieties of tall fescue, orchardgrass, and other species when subjected to continuous heavy grazing pressure by horses within the grazing season. The main focus will be on stand survival.

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ASC-216: Reading a Feed Tag

Jacquie Jacob, Tony Pescatore | Dec. 4, 2014 (New)

Feed stores carry a variety of feed types. How do you chose which to buy? You need to read the feed tag. A lot of information is on a feed tag that can help you make your selection and this publication breaks it down for you.