In nowaday's beef industry, producing climate-friendly beef must marry with maintaining carcass quality and value. However challenging that may be, Dr. Zach Smith – an expert in animal science – believes that it is feasible through thoughtful planning and research. In this episode, he discusses the economic and environmental benefits of limit-feeding and accuracy in cattle feed, along with the complex relationship between efficiency and marbling potential. Additionally, Dr. Smith also shares his experiences with grad school and mentorship, the importance of work ethic, and some insights on the learning process, emphasizing the importance of learning from one's mistakes and the value this has for both students and mentors.

"We want to produce climate-friendly beef while at the same time maintaining the value of the product that we produce." - Dr. Zach Smith

What you’ll learn:

Highlight (00:00)
Introduction (00:58)
Dr. Smith's life story (03:00)
The first steps of a research (10:02)
Faculty roles and mentoring (14:26)
Learning from errors in science (17:15)
Climate-smart beef (22:28)
Residual feed intake and marbling (24:17)
Efficiency as a selection trait and its consequences (30:45)
Efficiency in feedlot cattle (32:41)
The final questions (35:17)

Meet the guest: Dr. Zach Smith

Experience

Current: Assistant Professor of Ruminant Nutrition at South Dakota State University

Background

Ph.D. (Texas Tech University)
M.Sc. (South Dakota State University)
B.Sc. (Texas Tech University)

Connect with our guest on Social Media: Instagram

𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀, 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺.

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Dr. Zach Smith: Sustainable Marbled Beef | Ep. 24