Imagine, says Jimmy Taylor, that you are buying a new pickup and all you know is the color. There's nothing about the engine, the cab, or the towing capacity. You wouldn't buy, would you? Yet, until recently, that's how ranchers selected bulls and heifers. They would look at the outside and hope for the best.Taylor, who operates Taylor Ranch at Elk City, Oklahoma, with wife Tracy, says there's a better way. Look under the hood, so to speak. New genomics testing technologies tell him if a heifer calf has high odds of growing into a cow that is docile and efficient, has a calf every year for several years, and raises calves that earn carcass premiums.
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