Beef industry Chair to focus on cattle nutrition, health, profitability, and the environment

Gabriel Ribeiro has been named as the new Saskatchewan Beef Industry Chair at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). Ribeiro steps in to the role following John McKinnon’s retirement.

Prior to becoming the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Chair, Ribeiro was an assistant professor in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Calgary. Originally from Brazil, Ribeiro also worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Lethbridge Research and Development Centre.

Ribeiro says that upcoming research at USask will focus on nutritional strategies to improve health, performance, and profitability of cattle production while lessening the environmental impact.

“My goal as the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Chair is to train high-quality students and conduct research and extension that answer to the needs of the Canadian Beef Industry,” Ribeiro says. “I want to help Canadians produce beef more efficiently and sustainably to meet the needs of the growing world population.”

Ribeiro’s research interests include: grain and forage processing technologies, rumen health, feed efficiency, and beef cattle productivity. Other areas of interest are the development of nutritional strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in beef cattle, and alternatives to the use of antibiotics as growth promoters.