Shoppers today may not realize a bull test
center has any value to them. But the fact that they can buy their beef both lean and
tender is due largely to just such a place.

"We use ultrasound to measure the
ribeye area and check the marbling, and to measure the backfat," said Robert Stewart, a University
of Georgia Extension Service animal scientist.

Stewart runs the Tifton Bull Evaluation Center of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

BREAKING GROUND for the new multipurpose livestock building at the University of Georgia Bull Evaluation Center near Irwinville, Ga., are (from left) Georgia Rep. Penny Houston (District 166), Georgia Rep. Newt Hudson (Dist. 156), Georgia Cattlemen’s Association President Betts Berry, UGA Animal and Dairy Science Department Head Larry Benyshek, UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Assistant Dean Phil Utley, Georgia Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Harold Ragan (Dist. 11), GCA Bull Test Committee Chairman Harvey Lemmon and UGA CAES Dean and Director Gale Buchanan.

To yield tender steaks, he said, beef cattle have to have a certain amount of marbling.
Beef lovers have long known that the intermixture of fat and muscle marks the very best
cuts of meat.

But backfat, Stewart said, just has to be trimmed off. Shoppers don’t want to do a lot
of trimming.

"Now that we’re using ultrasound to measure these aspects of a bull," he
said, "purebred cattle producers can change their cattle to better meet consumers’
needs."

Stewart has seen many changes in the UGA bull test program. The most obvious have come
in the past three years, when the facility was moved from its 37-year-old Tifton site to a
greatly expanded site in nearby Irwin County.

Local legislators and state agricultural leaders met at the site April 16 to break
ground for a $250,000 multipurpose building. The building is expected to be completed by
the time the next group of bulls arrives at the end of September.

"This new facility will be a valuable part of the bull evaluation program,"
said Betts Berry, president of the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association, which helps manage the
program. "And the bull evaluation program is an integral part of the total beef
production effort of Georgia."

Harvey Lemmon, who chairs the GCA bull test committee, said the center’s top Angus
bulls have gone from yearling weights of less than 1,000 pounds to more than 1,400 pounds
in the program’s 40-year history.

"It doesn’t take a genius," he said, "to see what we’ve accomplished
with the bull evaluation program."

It’s all a matter of genetics. "When we needed more size, we first started
measuring frame," Stewart said. "When we found we were getting tall bulls that
weren’t deep enough or wide enough, we moderated our goals to consider depth and
dimension."

But the biggest bull isn’t always the best bull, he said. Cattlemen consign their bulls
to be tested (and foot the bill for the program), he said. The bulls are all fed the same
feed and evaluated over four and half months.

"We provide the most complete data a buyer can get," Stewart said. "If
we identify what we’re looking for, we have tests to evaluate for it."

Sometimes, he said, a farmer may want a bull to breed first-calf heifers. He can choose
one that sires quality calves that are smaller at birth.

One farmer may want to raise the weaning weights in his herd. Another may need cows
that give more milk. Both can get what they need by selecting the right bull.

The focus of any genetic change in cattle is what the shoppers want in the store.

"We just have to identify the needs and see what kind of bull best matches the
needs of the herd," Stewart said.