Ultrasound Researcher Brethour Retires from Kansas State University

by Nancy Carver Singleton

A nationally known Kansas beef scientist who was a pioneer in ultrasound has retired.
John Brethour, 71, retired June 3 after a 47-year career at the Agricultural Research Center in Hays. “John’s command and understanding of the interrelationships among the science, business and economics of the beef cattle industry are unique,” said Pat Coyle, who oversees the Western Kansas Agricultural Centers.
Coyle said Brethour’s “crowning achievement” is using ultrasound to examine muscle tissue in beef cattle and to apply the results to precision feeding of cattle. Brethour set an industry standard with his development of both computer software and interpretive techniques to establish an optimum number of days cattle should be on feed to reach a specific carcass quality grade. He holds U.S. patents on the computer software.

Brethour grew up on a livestock and grain operation near Clay Center, Kansas. He came to Hays in 1957 after earning a master’s degree in animal science from Oklahoma State University.

His first exposure to ultrasound was a demonstration in 1959 at Hays given by Jim Stouffer of Cornell University. Brethour watched ultrasound be used on and off for several decades, then began his own research in 1986. He considers Stouffer a mentor and friend.

In the late 1980s most land grant universities had ultrasound equipment and ultrasound was used in the purebred industry. But, “As I looked around, I could not see where anyone was trying to adapt it to the commercial operator,” he said. Through further development, ultrasound is now used evaluate marbling and to predict future carcass merit. There are applications to be developed too, such as using ultrasound to sort cattle according to protein requirements.

Coyle said, “The potential economic benefit to the (beef) industry from John’s ultrasound research is massive. Several studies have documented that precision feeding, based on the ultrasound work, increases feedlot profits like $15 to $20 per head, while improving beef quality,” Coyne said. There were 28 million fed cattle slaughtered in the U.S. in 2003, so the potential benefit of this technology is more than $500 million annually.

Use is growing of the ultrasound software and interpretive techniques Brethour developed. Approximately 10,000 cattle are scanned per week. Fourteen commercial feedlots use it routinely and 50 veterinarians and consultants provide it on a fee basis. This results in about 10,000 cattle scanned per week. Brethour provides training and assistance to those using his software.

Brethour used ultrasound technology to manage and select six steers that placed first in the 1999 Western Stock Show carcass contest. He then won first place ($100,000) in the national 2002 Best of the Breed contest sponsored by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Along with that first place finish, the top eight entries (out of 140) used the ultrasound technology that Brethour developed.

At his request, all prize monies and royalties from contest awards and patents are reinvested in Kansas State beef research programs.

Brethour is modest about his work with ultrasound, saying it “kind of tied up” the last third of his career. Much of his work in the 1960s and ’70s was research on the feed value of milo and wheat. The center also did evaluations on things such as implants, feed additives, high-moisture grain, silage, young bulls fed or slaughter, etc.

He made numerous trips abroad, most of them to provide information on how to process milo, to work milo into rations and to determine its feed value. Brethour visited 50 countries, but added that he was in some only for sightseeing.

Closer to home, he noted that Kansas cattlemen have become very conscious of environmental issues and of what consumers desire in beef quality. “Food safety is on the mind of every producer,” Brethour said.
He spoke highly of the state’s cattlemen. “It has always been exciting to work with cattle in Kansas because beef cattle pretty well dominates agriculture in this state. It is a pretty dynamic industry.”

“Kansas producers are always looking for new techniques, particularly in western Kansas where producers are very up to date,” he added. Brethour noted that being off-campus probably allowed him a closer working relationship with producers. ©