Research Update: Larrison Hicks, Line Breeding, Nutritional Listener Questions

About this episode

Larrison Hicks discusses research on beef-dairy cross calves and the implications of early-life management on gut health and liver abscesses.

On this episode of BCI Cattle Chat, Larrison Hicks gave a research update on his project about beef–dairy cross calves, focusing on how early-life management, such as milk-feeding methods and probiotics, may influence gut development and the higher incidence of liver abscesses in calf ranch systems. Early findings showed no short-term benefits from probiotic supplementation, with more results pending. The hosts also discussed genetics, noting that line breeding closely related high-performing cattle increases the risk of defects and does not reliably produce superior offspring. Additional topics included managing aflatoxins in feed, the limited effectiveness of sodium bicarbonate in feedlot diets, and how excess fat can negatively impact rumen function in grazing cattle. 4:31 Research Update: Larrison Hicks  9:21  Line Breeding   13:43 Nutritional Listener Questions  For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on X at @ksubci , Facebook , and Instagram at @ksubci . Check out our website, ksubci.org . If you have any comments/questions/topic ideas, please send them to bci@ksu.edu. You can also email us to sign up for our weekly news blast! Don’t forget, if you…

People in this episode

Host: BCI Cattle Chat

Guest: Larrison Hicks

Topics covered

• beef-dairy cross calves
• early-life management
• line breeding
• nutritional questions
• gut development
• liver abscesses
• aflatoxins

Keywords

• probiotics
• milk-feeding methods
• genetics
• sodium bicarbonate
• rumen function
• feedlot diets
• aflatoxins

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BCI Cattle Chat

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