UGA Beef
UGA Beef Team
UGA's Beef Team is dedicated to enhancing Georgia's beef industry through research, education, and extension. The team serves as a resource for producers and consumers alike with programs that benefit students, producers, and researchers.
Bull Evaluation Centers
Located in Tifton and Calhoun, the evaluation centers conduct a 112-day test of bulls consigned by producers in Georgia and surrounding states.
This testing:
- demonstrates individual performance differences in a uniform environment
- provides breeders with a sound scientific basis for selecting bulls with the ability to gain weight rapidly and to make such bulls available to cattle producers
- serves as an educational demonstration of the value of records of performance
The programs are sponsored by the Georgia Cattlemen's Association, the University of Georgia Animal and Dairy Science Department, UGA Cooperative Extension, Coastal Plain Experiment Station, and the Northwest Georgia Research and Education Center.
Heifer Evaluation and Reproductive Development Program (HERD)
Conducted in Tifton and Calhoun, the HERD Program allows producers to consign heifers for heifer development. The program was developed to serve and educate the beef industry in Georgia; to demonstrate feeding and health programs that result in replacement heifers reaching target weights required for successful breeding performance; to provide a method of evaluating heifers including performance, reproductive traits, and disposition; to develop heifers which are source identified and genetically verified; and to demonstrate the benefits of cooperative efforts involving cattle producers, animal health professionals, the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association, the UGA Animal and Dairy Science Department, the UGA Diagnostic Lab and College of Veterinary Medicine, and Georgia County Extension Agents.