Nationally and internationally the impact and influence of Dave Nichols, particularly in the advancement of performance through data collection on measurable traits, has helped the beef cattle industry make exponential strides forward over the years.
1938 - 2023 | Artist: Richard Steward Halstead (born 1947)
Impact & Accomplishments
Iowa seedstock producer Dave Nichols has been a performance pioneer for over 60 years, starting with his win in the national FFA public speaking contest in 1956, discussing performance testing bulls. He remains on the cutting edge of objective selection today. He qualified bulls for Performance Registry International’s Certified Meat Sire program starting in the early 1960s.
When Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) was formed in 1968, he served on its first board of directors and later as its third president. It was through BIF that performance practices and terminology were standardized. With the onset of sire summaries, he had bulls represented in Angus, Simmental, and Polled Hereford’s first analysis, as well as cows in the inaugural Angus’ Pathfinder and Simmental’s Cow Award programs. In addition, his herd has been the site of numerous Land Grant research projects, which took advantage of the 70 objective data points Nichols Farms keeps on each animal.
Through these research efforts, Nichols helped pioneer, develop, and promote numerous technologies including ultrasound and genomics. He was also a pioneer in the transition of Simmental to black hided and polled cattle, instead of the traditional color pattern. Modern Simmentals are now over 90 percent black and polled. While serving as its president, the American Simmental Association implemented registration of “bulls of another breed,” which was critical to the development of hybrids and composites, as well as the across-breed genetic predictions to objectively describe them.
In addition, Dave Nichols has served the industry on various boards and committees, including the board of directors of the Simmental and Angus Associations. Through his service on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and as chairman of the Product Enhancement Subcommittee, he played a critical role in the development and implementation of instrument carcass grading and adding value to end cuts such as “Flat Iron Steaks.” Through the efforts of Nichols and the small group of other performance pioneers, the industry switched from the showring to performance testing as the primary means of selection.
Did You Know?
Across the board, Dave Nichols is held in high regard by beef cattle producers, educators and researchers.
"Mr. Nichols vision and creative mind has not only driven the success of Nichols Farms but has had a profound effect on the entire beef industry. Dave's unwavering thought process of a "science-based" approach to beef production has been a driving force in many research projects throughout the United States. Many of those research projects engineered by leading universities have forged a strong alliance between science and production ideals within the beef industry." — John Boddicker Executive Vice President, American Maine-Anjou Association
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