North Florida Research and Education Center - Marianna
3925 Hwy 71
Marianna, FL 32446-7906
Phone: (850) 482-482-1243
Fax: (850) 482-9917
Email: GRHansen@ufl.edu

Current Projects

Gary Hansen

Extension Specialist, Beef Cattle

Professor of Animal Science

Bull Test
The Florida Bull Test was established in 1999 at the North Florida Research and Education Center in Marianna.  Bull tests have been conducted each subsequent year since its inception.  The bull test begins in August and terminates with an annual production sale in January.  Only bulls meeting specific performance criteria are permitted to compete in the test.  More.....

Improving Feed Efficiency in Beef Cattle
This project is research and education in nature with the goal of developing and delivering technologies to improve conservation efficiency in beef cattle.  Improvement in feed efficiency (unit of weight gain achieved per unit of feed consumed) can have a large impact on improving ranch profitability as feed/forage costs represent the largest expenditure in a typical beef cattle operation.  Additionally, improving feed efficiency may potentially limit/reduce some factors that may negatively impact environment.  Research and education programs within this project will focus on (1) genetic selection for improved feed efficiency and its relationship with other economically important traits such as average daily gain, and (2) nutritional and environmental factors that influence feed efficiency.  This project integrates animal breeding and genetics, beef cattle management and nutrition, economics, and the environmental sciences. [ Hansen, Carter, Myer, Blount]