Researchers Win National Award for Outstanding Collaboration and Impact!

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*W4112 project members pose in front of a muskoxen pen at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks research station during the project's annual meeting in 2023.*

At the agInnovation Annual Meeting, Dr. Andrea Cupp, animal scientist and professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, received the 2026 Excellence in Multistate Research Award on behalf of an interdisciplinary team enhancing the reproductive performance of cattle and sheep. Over its 56-year legacy, Hatch Multistate project W4112: Reproductive Performance in Domestic Ruminants has made discoveries and data-driven solutions that have reshaped industry practices, delivering measurable gains in productivity and resilience.

Reproductive inefficiency is the greatest constraint on the profitability of U.S. livestock systems. Early pregnancy loss alone costs U.S. livestock producers up to $3.7 billion each year. Even just a 1% improvement in calf or lamb production due to this project’s innovations (a conservative estimate) would be worth over $1 billion annually to U.S. producers. When producers reduce losses, consumers can enjoy steady supplies and lower prices for meat, dairy, and other goods from cattle and sheep. Thriving beef, dairy, and sheep industries are vital for a healthy economy, generating about $243 billion in total production value each year and supporting 2.3 million jobs.

The Hatch Multistate framework has been critical to the project’s success. Using federal capacity funding to bring researchers together, the project fosters continuity and collaboration that facilitate impact. Working together across disciplines (including physiology, molecular biology, genetics, immunology, nutrition, biostatistics, and livestock management) enables project scientists to address the complex factors that influence reproductive performance across different species, environments, and production systems.

Interdisciplinary coordination and communication have helped scientists build off each other’s work. For example, Colorado State University neuroendocrine studies informed the University of Nebraska’s models of excess androgen in cows and enabled New Mexico State University’s insights on signaling pathways that regulate ovarian function in sheep. New gestational nutrition models developed at the University of Connecticut and Montana State University are connected to earlier work on fetal programming at the University of Arizona, insights from New Mexico State University on vascular development in the placenta, and biostatistical methods developed at Utah State University. Interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers in Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and the USDA ARS led to sperm biomarkers and deep-learning algorithms that can spot the biomarkers in sperm images, helping artificial insemination labs identify subfertile sires before they are bred. Research by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and USDA ARS, with support from New Mexico State University and Colorado State University, may improve genetic predictions of puberty status and allow easier identification of heifers predisposed to earlier puberty and greater reproductive longevity. Findings also suggest that administering progestin, a synthetic hormone that forces puberty, can conceal heifers with genetically delayed puberty, leading producers to waste money developing heifers with shorter reproductive lifespans. If producers can identify and cull those heifers sooner, they could save $2,500 per heifer.

The project’s multistate reach facilitates widespread testing and adoption of solutions. Over 56% of U.S. breeding cows and 70% of breeding ewes are in states represented by project scientists. With this reach, project members were able to advance the Open Cow Test from a concept to a 1,000-cow clinical trial including Colorado, Wisconsin, Texas, and Ohio to a nationally deployed program that helps beef and dairy producers quickly identify and rebreed non-pregnant cows. Artificial insemination synchronization protocol refinements were tested in Idaho, Kansas, and South Dakota before they were adopted by producers nationwide. The refined protocols can increase cow pregnancy rates up to 27%. Research linking the SLICK1 genetic allele to improved heat tolerance and reproduction spanned California, Mississippi, Florida, and Illinois. SLICK-genotype bulls are now commercially available to producers in warm regions internationally. Since being discovered by project scientists at the University of Missouri and University of Wisconsin, the mutation that causes HH2 (a condition linked to early embryonic loss) has been integrated into bull screening programs nationwide. Phasing HH2 out of Holstein bull pools will reduce embryonic loss across the nation’s most popular dairy breed.

lick (back) developed by scientists at theUniversity of Florida and University of California, Davis.
At the 2022 annual meeting, W4112 project members toured the University of Nebraska’s cow-calf unit.
Researchers measure a lamb to understand the effects of fetal programming efforts.
Project members have educated and trained over 120 grad students and postdocs.
Researchers examine an ultrasound image.
Workshop participants practice artificial insemination on cow reproductive tracts.

Cohesive teams, proven methodologies, and a track record of productivity have enabled the project to leverage competitive grants and become a trusted partner for federal agencies and international organizations. While this project focuses on reproduction in livestock, many discoveries have broader biomedical relevance and have attracted significant funding from the National Institutes of Health. So far, findings have informed human perinatal medicine, revealed links to human endometrial cancer suppression, and improved understanding of and possible therapies for PMOS (formerly called PCOS), a leading cause of infertility in women.

Many project members have joint research and Extension appointments at land-grant universities. Integrating Extension ensures knowledge flows both ways between labs and farms so that research responds to stakeholder needs, and findings and tools can be shared directly with producers, facilitating adoption and impact. For example, hands-on reproductive management workshops in Idaho, South Dakota, and Mississippi have led to annual returns of $1,000 to $5,000 per ranch.

Teaching is also part of the mission of the land-grant universities leading this project. With a USDA Higher Education Challenge grant, project members developed educational artificial insemination tools that have benefited instructor lesson plans and students in Kansas, Kentucky, and Nebraska. Over the past five years, project members have taught and trained more than 120 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars—the next generation of scientists and producers. Many of these students have received fellowships from federal agencies and industry associations, strengthening the workforce pipeline.

For over 50 years, Hatch Multistate project W4112 has supported resilient U.S. beef, dairy, and sheep industries. The Excellence in Multistate Research Award celebrates the project’s legacy of collaboration, innovation, and impact. The award also supports future impacts. The project has received $15,000 from the Hatch Multistate Research Fund to support their ongoing objectives.

PROJECT PARTICIPATION & FUNDING

W4112: Reproductive Performance in Domestic Ruminants is supported in part by USDA NIFA through Hatch Multistate Research Fund capacity grant allocations to State Agricultural Experiment Stations at participating land-grant institutions. Participants: University of Arizona, University of California, Davis, Colorado State University, University of Connecticut, University of Florida, University of Idaho, University of Illinois, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, University of Kentucky, Mississippi State University, University of Missouri, Montana State University, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, New Mexico State University, The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, South Dakota State University, Texas A&M University, Utah State University, Washington State University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wyoming. Federal Collaborators: USDA ARS Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, Miles City, MT. International Collaborators: University of São Paulo and UNESP (Brazil); CENID-Fisiología e Mejoramiento Animal, INIFAP (Mexico); University of Prince Edward Island (Canada), University of Jordan (Jordan). Previous and future iterations of this project may include other participants and collaborators. Project members have secured substantial funding from additional sources. Learn more: https://nimss.org/projects/18789.