Spotlight

29th Annual Horse Barn Production Sale to be held Saturday, June 18th

Join us for our 29th Annual Production Sale on June 18th, 2022! The UC Davis Horse Barn is thrilled to be able to offer weanlings, yearlings, and a two-year-old for your consideration this year. There is sure to be something for every equine enthusiast at this event.

We are excited to be back in person for 2022, we hope to see you there! Join us for a sale preview beginning at 3:30 PM and a BBQ dinner at 4:30 PM and auction starting at 6:00 PM.

Spring 2022 Awards Barbecue

On Tuesday May 24th, the Department of Animal Science held their annual Spring Awards BBQ. This is the first BBQ we’ve been able to have in two years and it was great to see so many in attendance to celebrate the success of our undergraduate and graduates students that received awards over the last year. We also welcomed our generous donors and their families to this event that wouldn’t be possible without their fantastic support of our students. A great time was had by all!

 

 

A Ribbon-Butting for the Goat Dairy and Creamery

By Dateline Staff on February 4, 2020 in Human & Animal Health

UC Davis loves its goats. For more than 100 years, goats have played a starring role in the teaching, research and outreach at the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. That connection grew stronger than ever Jan. 25 with the formal opening of the UC Davis Noel-Nordfelt Animal Science Goat Dairy and Creamery. 

Anita Oberbauer Wins Teaching Prize

By Dateline Staff


Pardon the interruption, students, but we wanted you to know the animal science professor standing in front of you, Anita Oberbauer, whom you fondly call “Dr. O,” is the recipient of the 2018-19 UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.

Bull Market - Collaboration with beef industry tests advanced breeding technologies

By Robin DeRieux

COWS ARE SPECIAL. As ruminants, they eat grass and other plants that are inedible to people, transforming forage into steak and hamburgers and other tasty high-protein beef products.

Over the past few decades, the beef industry has made significant improvements in productivity—generating more food from fewer numbers of cattle. Better breeding and other innovations in animal science research have played a starring role in these advances.

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Pablo Ross

Pablo Ross leads national cow genomics effort

Pablo Ross (photo by Brian Baer, copyright protected)

by Amy Quinton (CA&ES)

USDA-funded project aims to uncover important genetic traits in cattle
 

The cattle industry is the largest agricultural commodity in the United States, generating more than $100 billion in farm cash receipts in 2016. Despite cattle’s economic importance, scientists still have a long way to go to fully understand mechanisms that govern important genetic traits in the animals such as growth and disease resistance.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded the University of California, Davis, $2.5 million over four years for a national cow genomics project. The research effort aims to allow the cattle industry to use genetics more efficiently to predict the traits their herds possess.

The bovine genome was first sequenced in 2009 and was one of the largest genomes ever sequenced.

“We have the code of the cow’s genome, but we don’t know what it means,” said Pablo Ross, an associate professor in the Department of Animal Science at the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He will lead the efforts and serve as project director.

“This project is like genome sequencing 2.0,” said Ross. “The goal is to identify the functional elements of the cow’s genome.” Understanding that information could open the door to improvements in genetic selection, which could lead to healthier, more productive livestock.

Several universities are involved in the project including Virginia Tech, Texas A&M University, Iowa State University, Washington State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Idaho, Colorado State University and University of Vermont.

The grant is one portion of a $6 million grant USDA awarded to create three functional genomics projects. In addition to the UC Davis-led project for cattle genomics, USDA awarded grants for swine genomics at Iowa State University and chicken genomics at the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California.