Research & Innovation

BFO Research Program

In late 2019, BFO, with the assistance of the Livestock Research Innovation Corporation (LRIC), initiated a research call for the 20202023 BFO research program. We received 23 letters of intent from applicants. Following the letters of intent, BFO received 12 full proposals that were presented to the BFO Research Committee for deliberation. From there, 10 projects were selected that focus on the following BFO priorities:

• Environmental sustainability (5)

• Animal health and welfare (4)

• Antimicrobial use, resistance, and alternatives (2)

• Forages (2)

• Other (nutrition, feed efficiency, and production process) (2)

• Food safety (1)

BFO has also partnered with Dairy Farmers of Ontario on two projects. One of the projects is researching biomaterials for bale wrapping that could replace the use of plastic, which BFO hopes will help address past resolutions around plastic bale wrapping.

The “BFO Research Investment Strategy” was reviewed and revised for the first time since 2014 with input from the Beef Cattle Research Council, the BFO Research Committee, and the BFO Board of Directors. The updated strategy, which can be found in the research section of BFO’s website, will help guide BFO’s research investments for the next four years (2021 to 2024).

Ontario Beef Research Centre

As anticpated, cows and heifers were moved into the new cow-calf research facility in Elora early in 2020. The pastures have been increased from 160 acres to 400 acres, allowing for more rotational grazing system research on site. The animals started utilizing the new pasture system in Elora in June last year.

The new feedlot barn, which has a capacity of 288, is expected to be completed and ready for use in the fall of 2021. The barn will have 96 more head available than the older beef feedlot. The new feedlot facility includes equipment to collect individual feed intake data on the animals.

Livestock Research and Innovation Corporation (LRIC)

BFO continues to support LRIC as a founding member. LRIC provides a unified voice and conduit to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on research priorities for the province’s livestock sectors, which helps inform priorities for research programs funded by the province. This is an important service that ensures the beef sector’s priorities for research on both a provincial and national basis are communicated regularly to provincial funding bodies. In addition:

• LRIC membership allowed BFO to utilize LRIC services to administer BFO’s research program, including our 2019 call for proposals.

• LRIC coordinated, compiled and submitted research priorities for the Ontario beef sector to inform the funding priorities for research programs funded by the provincial government and University of Guelph.

• LRIC helped eliminate BFO’s research station access fees at provincial research institutions, leading to considerable overhead savings on BFO-funded research projects.

• LRIC launched a “Young Researcher Mentorship Program” that connected young/new researchers at the University of Guelph with industry and government partners involved in the beef sector, including BFO. Part of this program included a “beef in the spotlight” farm tour day for new/young University of Guelph faculty members with research interests in the beef and broader livestock sector.

COVID-19

As with everything in 2020, COVID-19 affected the projects BFO is involved in by pushing timelines back due to restrictions around the work environment. BFO continues to work with the researchers to develop plans of action and update their projects’ timelines as issues arise.