There was a bit of a chill in the air – a friendly one, not the angry kind that would come whipping out of the north in a month or two – as I cruised with my window down along Highway 20.

The study will focus on cattle’s mitochondria, cell components whose biochemical activity produces most of the body’s energy for cell function. The researchers hope the project will expand the range of genetic tools used by animal breeders.

According to the USDA’s latest Cattle on Feed report, cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the U.S. for feedlots with capacity of at least 1,000 head totaled 11 million head on Aug. 1.

On July 27, Missouri cattle producer Charlie Besher testified before the House Natural Resources Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee in support of the Black Vulture Relief Act, sharing how predatory black vultures take a toll on cattle producers’ livestock and livelihoods.

The Beef Improvement Federation recognized 44 Farms of Cameron, Texas, as the BIF Seedstock Producer of the Year during the organization’s annual research symposium in July in Calgary, Alberta. Douglas Lake Cattle Company of Douglas Lake, British Columbia, was presented with the Commercial Producer of the Year Award.

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.

Driving down the county road past drought-stricken fields of sandy, caliche soil in south-central Texas’s Wilson County, you’d be forgiven for thinking it might not be the most fertile ground in the world. But for the Lyssy family, this is the perfect place to grow a cow herd, a family and a legacy.