Montana’s Wade Shafer presented BIF Pioneer Award
AMARILLO, Texas – The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) presented Wade Shafer, Ph.D., of Bozeman, Montana, the BIF Pioneer Award June 12 during the group’s annual research symposium in Amarillo, Texas.
The Pioneer Award recognizes individuals who have made lasting contributions to the improvement of beef cattle and honors those who have had a major role in acceptance of performance reporting and documentation as the primary means to make genetic change in beef cattle.
Shafer joined the American Simmental Association in 2003 and brought with him a Ph.D. from Colorado State University and practical experience building economic selection indexes for his own herd. He led the development of two whole life cycle indexes, launched a whole herd reporting system and transitioned ASA’s genetic evaluation into the genomic era. In 2010, Shafer co-founded International Genetic Solutions, which now includes more than 23 million animals from 23 breed organizations — the largest genetic evaluation system in the world.
Throughout his career, Shafer’s focus has always been on improving genetics across the entire beef industry. He served as Executive Vice President of ASA beginning in 2013 and guided significant growth while prioritizing service to commercial cattle producers. He defended independent genetic evaluation during a patent challenge and maintained the integrity of expected progeny differences (EPDs) and indexes.
Shafer’s leadership and vision have been widely praised by industry peers, who describe him as humble, principled and driven by service to the beef industry.
More than 400 beef producers, academia and industry representatives attended the organization’s 57th Annual Research Symposium and Convention in Amarillo, Texas. BIF’s mission is to help improve the industry by promoting greater acceptance of beef cattle performance evaluation.
For more information about this year’s symposium, including additional award winners and coverage of meetings and tours, visit BIFSymposium.com.
–BIF
