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The groundbreaking ceremony will take
place at 10 a.m. under a tent near the intersection of Race Street
and Old Church Road southeast of the U of I campus. The ceremony is
open to the public.
Robert A. Easter, dean of the College
of ACES, noted that the new facility, when completed, will enhance
the significant opportunities existing for expansion of the beef
industry in Illinois. This, he noted, will benefit not only beef
producers but their local communities and the Illinois economy.
"Illinois is a beef deficit state.
Eighty percent of the beef consumed here is imported from other
states," he said. "Producing more beef here will not only keep those
dollars in the state's economy but also allow us to more fully
utilize the byproducts of ethanol production.
"There is tremendous potential for
Illinois corn producers in the use of their crops in ethanol
production and, in turn, feeding byproducts of that process to
Illinois beef cattle."
Neal Merchen, head of the Department of
Animal Sciences in the College of ACES, said the new unit will help
constitute a research continuum from the cutting-edge efforts in the
Institute of Genomic Biology (formerly the Post Genomic Institute)
to studies that apply these findings in the field.
"Genetically modified traits can be put
to the test in trials at the new Beef/Sheep Unit," he said. "For
instance, we will have projects involving the efficacy of
genetically modified corn and other crops in beef cattle diets."
The new unit is part of Phase One of
the South Farms Modernization Project, which will have six phases.
Phase One, which includes the Beef/Sheep Unit, infrastructure
(sewers, roads and water) and land acquisition, carries a total
price tag of $23.7 million. Under the modernization project, the
current South Farms facilities will move to new ground and
facilities south of their present location.
About 650-700 animals will be housed in
the new unit's beef buildings. Those buildings will feature a
state-of-the-art manure management system that prevents the waste
products from being exposed to the atmosphere, severely curtailing
-- if not eliminating -- odor.
"Many of the buildings used for
livestock research today at the U of I date back to the early 1900s
and do not lend themselves to many modern management practices or
research using the latest technologies," said Merchen. "The existing
facilities, though they have a distinguished history of
accomplishment, have outlived their usefulness in meeting modern
needs."
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Since the initiation of livestock
research at the present South Farms in the early years of the 20th
century, a number of major breakthroughs have been made by U of I
personnel. In the beef cattle area, for example, the first research
on the use of corn silage as feed was conducted. The first standards
for beef cattle maintenance were established based upon work at the
South Farms, and over the years nutritional research has resulted in
better beef products for consumers.
"In recent years, beef research success
stories have included utilization of byproducts in feed and the
development of an early weaning management system that completely
changed the paradigm of beef cattle production," said Merchen. "The
early weaning system has significantly improved the quality of
market animals.
"In the future, we may be able to look
back and say that research conducted in the new facility enabled
Illinois corn and soybean production to become more sustainable
economically and environmentally. Achieving that will also allow the
overall agricultural economy and the community systems around it to
remain viable and sustainable."
While sheep research at the U of I has
also made significant breakthroughs in the past, including finding a
reliable test to predict the occurrence of spider lamb syndrome, the
50 market lambs and 15 to 20 yearling ewes housed in the new
Beef/Sheep Unit will be used primarily for teaching.
The yearling ewes, which will be
provided by a cooperative U of I and Illinois State University
program, will graze on the new facility's pastureland and be visible
to passersby, said A. Richard Cobb, U of I Extension sheep
specialist.
"The new sheep building replaces a
facility constructed in 1915," he said. "The new facility will be
better and, in the future, would allow for feeding studies on
sheep."
Merchen said public funding for the new
unit represents a commitment by the people of Illinois to the
state's future.
"It is also
recognition of the important role livestock plays in the state's
agricultural economy," he said. "And support for this facility
demonstrates a confidence that university research will continue to
perform its vital role in our society."
[University
of Illinois news release]
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