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Judging a cow by more than its cover

Frank Morris/Harvest Public Media

The beef in the cooler at your grocery store is the product of thousands of years of selective breeding. For nearly all of that time, ranchers have made cattle-mating decisions based on the outward appearance of animals. That’s changed, in a big way, and as Frank Morris reports in Part 2 of Harvest Public Media's America's Big Beef series, an emerging understanding of cattle genetics promises to accelerate that change exponentially. 

Frank Morris has supervised the reporters in KCUR's newsroom since 1999. In addition to his managerial duties, Morris files regularly with National Public Radio. He’s covered everything from tornadoes to tax law for the network, in stories spanning eight states. His work has won dozens of awards, including four national Public Radio News Directors awards (PRNDIs) and several regional Edward R. Murrow awards. In 2012 he was honored to be named "Journalist of the Year" by the Heart of America Press Club.