Now in its 11th year, the Tennessee Beef Heifer Development Program serves as an effective tool to develop replacement heifers. Located primarily at the University of Tennessee’s (UT) Middle Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Lewisburg, the program held a field day on Thursday, May 21, in conjunction with its bred heifer sale on Friday, May 22.

About 100 people took part in the field day, where vendors like ProTrition Feeds and Select Sires were on hand, and guest speakers shared their perspectives on current beef topics, such as market trends, reproductive and forage management, phenotyping evaluations, and retention of heifers. UT Extension, UT AgResearch, and the UT Beef and Forage Center hosted the event.

The following day, participating heifer owners in the project chose to sell some 90 head at auction in the program’s highly anticipated Third Annual UT Bred Heifer Sale. Reports indicate that the average selling price for each bred heifer totaled $5,340.

Kevin Thompson, director of the Middle Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center, along with Charlie Stogner, the facility’s beef cattle supervisor, says participation in the program has been widely accepted and it has grown remarkably, adding that it’s a fantastic opportunity for area beef producers.

“It’s cost-effective for one thing,” says Charlie. “For roughly $1,000 per heifer — paid at the end and prorated if animals leave early — the station provides pasture, feed, semen, vaccinations, reproductive management, and data collection (including palpation, tract scores, and planned genomic testing), achieving about 90% to 95% pregnancy rates with cleanup bulls and allowing open heifers to be marketed to offset costs. So that’s a good deal, and the reason people want to sign up to participate.”

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, along with Tennessee Farmers Cooperative and Tennessee Farm Bureau, partnered to start the program, which aims to help beef producers manage price risk, improve herd quality, and reduce on-farm development costs by outsourcing heifers to the research station, which offers specialized facilities and expertise.

The program is designed to increase opportunities for custom replacement heifer development and implement practices that will result in optimum reproductive efficiency when heifers mature. It aims to showcase management techniques necessary for replacement heifers to reach target weights and breed successfully and serves as an example of how to evaluate them for disposition, performance, and reproductive traits.

The heifer program began in 2015 as part of a Rural Challenge Initiative by former Governor Bill Haslam to rebuild declining beef herd numbers. It accepts commercial or registered heifers of any breed that meet specified health, weight, and age requirements, with nominations taken twice yearly for fall and spring groups and participation capped to broaden access.

“It’s cost-effective for one thing,” says Charlie. “For roughly $1,000 per heifer — paid at the end and prorated if animals leave early — the station provides pasture, feed, semen, vaccinations, reproductive management, and data collection (including palpation, tract scores, and planned genomic testing), achieving about 90% to 95% pregnancy rates with cleanup bulls and allowing open heifers to be marketed to offset costs. So that’s a good deal, and the reason people want to sign up to participate.”

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, along with Tennessee Farmers Cooperative and Tennessee Farm Bureau, partnered to start the program, which aims to help beef producers manage price risk, improve herd quality, and reduce on-farm development costs by outsourcing heifers to the research station, which offers specialized facilities and expertise.

The program is designed to increase opportunities for custom replacement heifer development and implement practices that will result in optimum reproductive efficiency when heifers mature. It aims to showcase management techniques necessary for replacement heifers to reach target weights and breed successfully and serves as an example of how to evaluate them for disposition, performance, and reproductive traits.

The heifer program began in 2015 as part of a Rural Challenge Initiative by former Governor Bill Haslam to rebuild declining beef herd numbers. It accepts commercial or registered heifers of any breed that meet specified health, weight, and age requirements, with nominations taken twice yearly for fall and spring groups and participation capped to broaden access.

About 20 to 30 producers from multiple states — ranging from small to full-time operations — send 250 fall and about 150 spring heifers annually to the program. After the project, the bred heifers not kept by the producers are then sold at auction. They are grouped by calving date, size, and often by the name of the producer, with broad advertising through Extension channels and cattle associations, while additional bred heifers are sold by private treaty.

The facility also offers a complementary 84-day bull test, relocated from UT’s 1,265-acre Spring Hill research station, to provide a more natural grazing environment. They develop 80 to 90 registered bulls annually on five 15 acre paddocks, evaluate them for weight gain and breeding soundness, and market 60 to 70 qualified bulls each December through an auction.

“Bulls that participate are each given a breeding soundness exam right before the sale,” says Charlie. “If they fail it, then they are not in the sale. It’s basically a weight-gain test that tests average daily gain and total weight over 80 days. If they pass, they can either be sold or be sent back to the producer’s farm as a breeding bull.”

The 615-acre Lewisburg facility serves beef producers by increasing efficiency, especially critical as U.S. beef cow numbers are historically low. It’s also designed to highlight the importance of extending grazing with high-quality forages.

The forage-focused portion of the field day program was led by Dr. Renata Nave Oakes, a plant scientist based at the Spring Hill location. She addressed how to support cattle during Tennessee’s increasingly severe summer droughts, particularly where tall fescue dominates.

“Tennessee has about 3.5 million acres of grasslands and is a major livestock state, but many acres are underproductive and managed by part-time producers,” she said, identifying key success factors for grazing systems, including grazing management, total forage production, forage quality, and species selection.

“Because Tennessee lies in the humid transition zone, producers can effectively grow both cool- and warm-season grasses,” she says, mentioning that tall fescue, like Kentucky 31, is a good choice for cool-season grass while highlighting that crabgrass is the preferred warm-season option.

Joining Dr. Oakes in the field day discussions was Dr. David Bilderback, UT Extension Specialist, who examined whether cow-calf producers should retain their own replacement heifers, purchase open heifers, or buy bred heifers. David was followed by Kevin Thompson, director of the facility, who spoke about phenotyping the evaluation of heifers.

After lunch, Dr. Charley Martinez, assistant professor for UT’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, spoke about current market trends while Dr. Saulo Zoca, assistant professor of UT’s Department of Animal Science and UT Extension Beef Cattle Specialist in Reproductive Management, ended with a discussion of Reproductive Management of Heifers.

“Our program has grown every year,” says Charlie. “We’re always looking for opportunities to expand it. It’s a great program. Most small producers don’t have a place to separate their heifers and feed them differently. We provide that opportunity. That was sort of the basis for starting this heifer development program. We want to get people’s heifers raised the right way. It’s a really good tool to have in the toolbox for a lot of producers.”

To find out more about the Tennessee Beef Heifer Development Program, visit https://utbeef.tennessee.edu/tennessee-beef-heifer-development-program/ or call (931) 270-2240.