UGA Beef Tips Podcast
Welcome to the UGA Beef Tips, the podcast of the UGA Beef Team! Join us as we bring beef cattle producers timely, science-based insights and practical information. Hosted by members of the UGA Beef Team, this podcast covers everything from herd management, reproduction, and nutrition to industry trends and producer success stories. Whether you’re a seasoned cattleman or new to the beef industry, UGA Beef Tips will help you make informed decisions for your operation. Tune in and enjoy insightful conversations about beef cattle and the industry that sustains us all.
Welcome to the UGA Beef Tips, the podcast of the UGA Beef Team! Join us as we bring beef cattle producers timely, science-based insights and practical information. Hosted by members of the UGA Beef Team, this podcast covers everything from herd management, reproduction, and nutrition to industry trends and producer success stories. Whether you’re a seasoned cattleman or new to the beef industry, UGA Beef Tips will help you make informed decisions for your operation. Tune in and enjoy insightful conversations about beef cattle and the industry that sustains us all.
Episodes

5 days ago
What’s the Next Pound Worth?
5 days ago
5 days ago
32 min
Dr. Pedro Fontes, Dr. Pedro Carvalho, and Dr. Will Secor discuss whether producers should market calves at weaning or retain ownership to precondition/background them. The episode explains the price-weight relationship and price slide, how to calculate the value of gain versus the cost of gain, and how management and health affect outcomes.
Connect with us at:
UGA Beef Team Website
UGA Beef Team Facebook
UGA Beef Team Instagram
5 days ago
32 min

Aug 13, 2026
Aug 13, 2026
31 min
Drs. Pedro Fontes and Dr. Pedro Carvalho chat with Dr. Will Secor for a concise market update on feeder and fed cattle, cull-cow markets, and indicators of a potential herd rebuild. They discuss heifer retention, beef-on-dairy impact on market fundamentals, and how rebuild might affect feeder cattle supply.
The episode also covers key market influences including wholesale beef demand, feed and fertilizer costs, El Niño risks for corn, and the potential impact of restored live cattle imports from Mexico. Practical marketing and risk-management suggestions for Georgia cow-calf producers are shared.
Aug 13, 2026
31 min

May 13, 2026
May 13, 2026
20 min
In this episode, Jason Duggin sits down with Marrissa Blackwell and Maelee Dean to discuss the Georgia Elite Stockman program – an immersive beef cattle industry education and leadership opportunity designed to take youth in Georgia (ages 17-21) on a “hoof to plate” journey. Whether you are looking to discover a new career path or want to become a stronger advocate for the beef industry, this episode explains why the program is so impactful and how it prepares students for their future in agriculture.
Click this link (link: https://beef.caes.uga.edu/programs/educational/georgia-elite-stockman/) for full details and to register to be part of the next class of ‘Elite Stockman'.
Connect with us at:
UGA Beef Team Website
UGA Beef Team Facebook
UGA Beef Team Instagram
May 13, 2026
20 min

May 7, 2026
May 7, 2026
22 min
UGA Beef Tips hosts Dr. Pedro Fontes and Dr. Michaela Dycus discussing research that links the rumen and hindgut microbiome to feed efficiency in Angus bulls. The episode explains feed-efficiency metrics (RFI, RADG, feed conversion), why the hindgut offers a practical sampling approach, and how microbial signatures were used to train a predictive model that classifies residual feed intake with roughly 80% accuracy.
Listeners learn how this microbiome-based tool could complement existing EPDs, its potential real-world application in bull selection, and future directions as the research moves toward earlier sampling, translation to steers, and possible commercialization.
Connect with us at:
UGA Beef Team Website
UGA Beef Team Facebook
UGA Beef Team Instagram
May 7, 2026
22 min

Apr 2, 2026
Apr 2, 2026
21 min
In this episode, Jason Duggin interviews Dylan Davis and Lauren Jarrett about Georgia’s Top Hand Stockmanship and Stewardship contest — a youth cattle handling competition that teaches hands-on production skills, beef quality assurance, and team-based problem solving.
They explain how teams are formed and practiced, share success stories and community impacts, and discuss the contest’s growth into a national event and its role in preparing students for careers in the beef industry.
Connect with us at:
UGA Beef Team Website
UGA Beef Team Facebook
UGA Beef Team Instagram
Apr 2, 2026
21 min

Mar 23, 2026
Mar 23, 2026
38 min
Welcome to the UGA Beef Tips podcast! In this episode, Jason Duggin, Pedro Carvalho, and Brad Heins discussed how to respond to cattle death loss and sickness—when to involve a veterinarian, the importance of necropsy and diagnostic testing, and how hay quality, nutrition and supplementation influence herd health.
Connect with us at:
UGA Beef Team Website
UGA Beef Team Facebook
UGA Beef Team Instagram
Mar 23, 2026
38 min

Jul 20, 2025
Is too much backfat bad for bull fertility?
Jul 20, 2025
Jul 20, 2025
12 min
Welcome to the UGA Beef Tips podcast! In this episode, Dr. Pedro Fontes and Molly Smith, a PhD student from the Department of Animal and Dairy Science at the University of Georgia, delve into some recent research on the relationship between subcutaneous back fat thickness in bulls and their semen quality.
Here is a link to the article discussed in this episode: https://academic.oup.com/tas/article/doi/10.1093/tas/txaf039/8106317.
Connect with us at:
UGA Beef Team Website
UGA Beef Team Facebook
UGA Beef Team Instagram
Jul 20, 2025
12 min

Jun 18, 2025
Jun 18, 2025
17 min
Welcome to the latest episode of the UGA Beef Tips podcast, where Drs. Pedro Fontes and Will Secor delve into the current state of the cattle market. Join us as Dr. Secor provides a comprehensive update on feeder calf prices, which have reached record highs this year. They also had a chance to discuss some hot topics like heifer retention, New World Screwworm, and retaliatory tariffs.
More resources can be found at:
-ugabeef.com
-Facebook
-Instagram
Jun 18, 2025
17 min



