Colorado State University Welcomes Beef Improvement Federation Members this June

Colorado State University will welcome to Fort Collins hundreds of beef cattle producers and researchers who are part of the annual Beef Improvement Federation’s Research Symposium and Annual Meeting from June 6-9. The event will be hosted by Colorado State, the Colorado Livestock Association, the Colorado

Cattlemen’s Association and the federation.

The Beef Improvement Federation works to find ways to improve the beef industry through performance evaluations, discuss genetics and other avenues to improve the beef industry. The conference will be a 40th anniversary celebration of the federation’s inception and 39th annual conference. Conference activities will take place primarily at the Fort Collins Hilton, 425 W. Prospect Road.

The event begins with an opening reception Wednesday evening, followed by a symposium sponsored by the National Association of Animal Breeders. The symposium will feature 40 years of artificial insemination and making money with commercial artificial insemination. General sessions Thursday and Friday will focus on "Performance Programs at a Crossroads" and "Challenges to Conventional Wisdom." Conference presenters will take a critical look at current methods of beef cattle evaluation and incorporation of new tools in genetic evaluation.

BIF will honor several individuals, including its seedstock and commercial producers of the year. Other conference activities will include the "Foam on the Range" social event on Thursday at Colorado State’s B.W. Pickett Equine Center, tours of Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, and tours to local producer operations.

Angus Productions Inc., or API, publisher of the "Angus Journal" and the "Angus Beef Bulletin," will present online coverage of the 2007 BIF annual meeting, posted at http://www.bifconference.com/bif2007/Newsroom.html. Members of media outlets covering the conference are welcome to use a media filing room, located in the Fort Collins Hilton.

For more information about the conference, contact Willie Altenburg, 2007 BIF committee chairman, at (970) 568-7881 or willie@rmi.net or Mark Enns at (970) 491-2722 or mark.enns@colostate.edu.

-30-