Scholarly Interview with Dr. Keith Bertrand

I interviewed Dr. Keith Bertrand, the head of the Animal and Dairy Science Department in the College of Agriculture for my scholarly interview. He is an expert in the field of cow breeding and their genetics. It was really rewarding to interview him, as my knowledge of cattle grew.

J: Good morning! I was wondering if I could interview you to learn a little bit more about cattle. I am doing a project, it’s an ancestry project for my English class, and my ancestors all farmed, and they all farmed cattle.

KB: In Georgia?

J: Yessir. In south Georgia. My granddad, his dad, and all the way up all in Bulloch County. It is like an hour north of Savannah.

KB: Oh sure I have been through the area.

J: So they did that forever. We are supposed to be not just telling the story of ancestors, but we are trying to dig in deeper. So my family has been here since the late 1700’s farming, and he advised us to interview an expert in the field, so I was wondering if I could get some information about farming from you.

KB: Well I am a geneticist, specifically a quantitative geneticist, but technically I am an animal breeder. That is what they call us. And so what we do is we merge genetic theory, the principles of genetics, the underlying principles, together with statistics and computer science to analyze information that is produced from cattle. Farmers and producers are going to record information on their livestock, and we analyze that to try to compute what we call genetic or breeding values to select the best way to produce cattle and give producers some understanding on which type of cattle to select to get the best progeny in the cattle. So we use a lot of pedigree information, and we are experts in computing inbreeding, understanding families, and those sorts of things. Its sort of math and biology.

J: That sounds really cool. With all of that, what made you decide to do what you do? What was your major, and where did you go?

KB: I majored in Animal Science at the University of Florida, and I got my masters and doctorate at Iowa State because Iowa State is where really the science of animal breeding really initiated. Dr. JL Lush is called the father of breeding methods, and he was one of my professors at Iowa State University.

J: My grandfather has Brahman bulls and Angus and Limousin cattle. With these three different types, what is the science of having different breeds to interbreed?

KB: Well I mean each one of those breeds have their own strengths, so with a breed, it is just a set of animals that have a similar genotype that someone started. You got three distinct breeds there. Two of them are the same species. Limousin and Angus are Bos Taurus and Brahman is Bos Indicus. So they’re two different species. Now Bos Taurus tend to be European cattle, and Bos Indicus are Indian or African. So they have two different strengths. So lets look at the European cattle. Angus is a breed that came from England, and it’s known for its carcus quality. It has characteristics that make it really good for eating. It has fat in its muscle that makes it enjoyable to eat. With the Limousin, it has one of the highest cutability breeds in the world, now what that means is per unit of body weight, it produces the most meat. Now it doesn’t necessarily have the best quality meat, but it has the most. Now you got the Brahman, and the Brahman was brought over to the United States because of their heat tolerance. They were brought over to the Southern United States because of their ability to withstand high heat. So what you do is try to cross that breed with the European breeds that had a hard time coping with the heat in the Southern part of the United States. Brahmans had no problem with coping with the heat, so you bring them in to create cattle that have nice characteristics of the European breeds, eating qualities, nice cuts, and they can withstand the heat and the parasites that Brahmans can. There are a lot of breeds of Bos Indicus cattle that are used in breeding, and Brahman is one of them.

J: That’s cool I had no idea bout any of that! Oh, I have another question. I have alway wondered this because you know he has bulls, and he calls all the other ones, cattle. Is there males in the cattle herd?

KB: Yes, all species of mammals have a male and a female with a name. For cattle, it’s bull and cow. The bull is the male, and the cow is the female. In livestock species, there tends to be a third species because we castrate certain males. The neutered male is the steer. The bull is intact male, the cow is the female, and the steer is the neutered male. There is also an age specific name for females. The heifer is the female before it reaches maturity. The cow is after it reaches maturity.

J: With me studying the history and psychology of humans right now, and you do cattle, do you think there is a correlation between the farmer and the cow. Like with their everyday interactions, do they rub off on each other?

KB: Well I mean it’s like any animal that has been domesticated. If they’re around humans, they become more familiar with humans, and they are easier to handle. If they are in the wild, they will be a lot different, but they are close to humans as domestic herd animals. Dairy cattle for example are milked everyday. You can walk in a herd with them, and they won’t even move. They will actually walk towards people. They associate the farmer with food and being milk.

J: Now do dairy cows ever get used for meat?

KB: Oh yeah, every dairy cow will eventually be used for meat. Once they have outlived their time for producing milk, the best source of income is for the cow to be sold for beef. They basically end up being hamburger meat. That is where a lot of the hamburger meat in America comes from.

J: Is that because they are older?

KB: Well yeah, the younger cattle end up being used for cuts like steaks and other fine meats, while the older cattle are used for hamburger meats or roasts.

J: Could you tell me the process of breeding a cow?

KB: In what way? the selection of the cattle or actually breeding the cow?

J: The selection.

KB: Ok so there is a lot of ways to do it. Different breeds in the United States provide different genetic values. Basically there is a value placed on every animal in the breed. This is called expected progeny differences or EPDs. For example, the Angus Association will have information on all of the bulls in their breed. They take parental information, progeny information, climate, you name it. With this information, they choose the best bull that will give the best traits possible for the best progeny. If you were to look at the genetic progress in the breeds, you would see that there is a ton of genetic progress that has been made. It is ridiculous how much milk production has doubled in the last 40 years. The dairy industry in the US is almost exclusively artificial insemination. They pick from the best throughout the country to get the most they can. In the beef industry, they tend to breed a lot on EPDs. There is a lot that is taken into deciding the best way to breed beef cattle. They are both either directly or indirectly using these genetic methods. That is why animals are way more efficient today than they have ever been before. We produce the same amount of milk with almost half the amount of cows that we did 40 years ago.

J: Wow there’s a lot of work put into it. I got one last question for you. I saw that you did research on genetics and altitude, and I did not really understand how that correlates. Could you explain it to me?

KB: Well there is a disease that when cattle are a high altitude. Let me go find it for you. (Walks over to his computer and begins typing.) It keeps them from producing like they need to. It is like anything else. I found it. It’s called brisket disease, but it has another name. It’s called bovine pulmonary hypertension. So basically it is a high altitude disease. Cattle get fluid in their brisket eseentially in its front part in their heart.

J: Is that because of the high altitude?

KB: Oh yeah human beings can get it too. So it’s just like heat stress; high altitude disease. There are many things that happen to animals because of the high environment that they’re placed in, but there are genetic differences between animals and their ability to withstand heat stress or high altitude. So there are animals who have the genetics to perform better under a heat stress environment than others, and there are also animals who can perform better in high altitude. So if you can select and identify the animals that have the ability to do better in high altitude, then what you produce is whole herds of animals that are less susceptible to high altitude or brisket disease than the average animal because of their genes that help them withstand it. The idea is trying to identify animals that are better for certain areas. Alright, you go back to the breeds. Ok, so Brahman cattle are genetically adapted to heat stress much more than European cattle, and so that is breed differences. The Brahman can withstand heat stress, and the European cattle can withstand cold stress a lot better than Brahman. The goal is to identify those animals that have the ability to withstand stress whether that is heat or cold stress or high altitude. We have cattle all over the United States so we have to breed differently for different regions.

J: Now have you been a professor since you graduated?

KB: Yes I got my phD in 1983, and yes I have been a college professor since 1983.

J: Ok so what are some other occupations that you can do with an animal and dairy science degree?

KB: Well some people go on to careers or go on to graduate and masters degrees or even phD like I have. Those people go on to work for farms or teaching agencies or universities. Some go work for companies either a tech company or selling high end pharmaceuticals, or they’re doing research to develop new products. Some of our students go on to vet school. A lot of our students who leave after 4 years with no masters are placed in companies. They work for purina companies, or nutrition companies. They can be sales associates or quality control. Some go into the meats industry and work with meat products. We have them go on to sell pharmaceuticals or neutroceuticals, and they could also be county agents. They educate farmers on new technologies. When producers have a problem, they call the county agent. The county agent can help them, and they are asked first. They are like the first line. Whatever they don’t know they may ask phDs at the University of Georgia.

J: Well thank you so much for your time. I enjoyed it!

KB: No problem Jake. Thank you.

J: Have a good day

KB: You too. Take care.