Thomas D. Bidner

Phone (225) 578-3437
FAX (225) 578-3279
Email: tbidner@agcenter.lsu.edu

Meat Science and Swine Production

Dr. Bidner has dedicated over 26 years to the service of Louisiana agriculture. Tom is a very hard working, dedicated scientist, with a balanced approach to research, teaching, and service. In addition, he has a very realistic approach to his career, family, personal health, and fitness and to God. Tom's wife, Judy, is working toward a master's degree in Early Childhood Education and his daughter, Laura, is a Junior at LSU. Judy and Tom also have a son, Chad, who is six years old. Tom is an active member of the University United Methodist Church.

Dr. Bidner's accomplishments in the teaching field are well documented by his numerous teaching awards. Tom is an excellent teacher both inside and outside the classroom. He truly wants students to learn and succeed and creates the proper attitude and environment for learning. Tom injects his knowledge of livestock and meat science in his lectures and talks, but more importantly, he also imparts his personal integrity and philosophies about life which allows the students to learn about integrity, ethical decision-making and career choices. He advises approximately 130 undergraduates and has two graduate students.

His overall research interests have been in improving the quantity and quality of red meat production. Since beef cattle is the primary red meat species in Louisiana, beef cattle has been the main focus of his research. Through cooperative research projects with our beef cattle breeders, Dr. Bidner's research helped characterize the carcass traits and palatability characteristics of two, three, and four breed rotational crossbred Brahman cattle. In addition, his more recent research has compared the growth, feedlot performance, carcass, and palatability characteristics of four American Synthetic Breeds - Brangus, Beefmaster, Gelbray, and Simbrah.

Because of the tenderness problem with some Brahman cattle, meat tenderness has been another area of Dr. Bidner's research. This research helped set the standards for cooking meat for sensory and texture analyses. A regional research project confirmed that the Armour Tenderometer was not a good instrument to measure tenderness of beef carcasses. Dr. Bidner was one of the first scientists to report a relationship between muscle pH, muscle temperature, and tenderness of beef. His research also has reported that electrical stimulation, blade tenderization, hot temperature aging, calcium chloride injection, and altering ultimate pH can all be used to improve tenderness of beef.

Louisiana has excellent climatic conditions for growing forages on a year round basis. When feed grain prices increased dramatically in the 1970's, the idea of finishing cattle on most or all forages became economically feasible. The original forage beef projects showed that a desirable final product could be produced on all or mostly all forage. Both trained and consumer panels were conducted and these confirmed that Angus and Angus- Hereford steers finished on all forage produced desirable steaks and roasts and that retail customers would repurchase the product.

Dr. Bidner has a keen interest in swine production, both from his livestock background and also his training. Tom has been a team member of the swine research group throughout his career but has taken a more active role since 1989. Dr. Bidner and Mr. Chip LeMieux, Swine Herdsman, are in charge of the swine herd genetics and management. Presently, the sow herd consists of purebred Yorkshires and white-line sows. Rapid genetic progress has been made by using production records and artificial insemination from elite boars with outstanding EPD values. Examples of this progress are: High indexing boar at the fall 1994 & Spring 1996 Alabama Test Station and the Grand Champion Yorkshire Gilt at the 1995 Dixie National Show, Jackson, MS. As part of the swine research team, Dr. Bidner has received over $159,000 in grants during the last four years.

The recent LEQSF - Enhancement Grant on enhancing composition measurement technology has opened up a new area of research for Tom. The TOBEC machine is on line in the Meats Laboratory and provides the technology to very accurately predict pounds of lean in a carcass. There are only two other Land Grant Universities that have this instrument so there is an excellent opportunity for further research and additional grants.

Representative Publications: