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Hereford and Red Angus Heifers Recruited for Genomics Research

The University of Missouri is recruiting 2,500 Hereford heifers and 2,500 Red Angus heifers to participate in a heifer puberty and fertility genomic research project. Heifers should be registered Hereford, registered Red Angus, or commercial Hereford or Red Angus. Hereford x Red Angus crossbred heifers targeted for the Premium Red Baldy Program would also be a good fit for the research project. Producers must be willing to work with a trained veterinarian to collect the following data: ReproductiveTract Scores collected at a pre-breeding exam 30 to 45 days prior to the start of the breeding season. PelvicMeasurements (height and width) collected at the same pre-breeding exam 30 to 45 days prior to the start of the breeding season. Pregnancy Determination Using Ultrasound reporting fetal age in days. Ultrasound will need to occur no later than 90 days after the start of the breeding season. In addition, heifers must have known birth dates and have weights recorded eithe
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Angus Announces Routine Calibration of GE-EPDs

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Genomic-enhanced selection tools to undergo scheduled upgrade American Angus Association® and Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI), the organization’s genetic services subsidiary, will soon release newly calibrated genomic-enhanced expected progeny differences (GE-EPDs). On March 21, AGI announced plans to release the latest calibration of its genomic-enhanced selection tools in mid-April. The process is the fifth of its kind since introducing GE-EPDs in 2010, and further refines how DNA test results are incorporated with pedigree, performance measures and progeny data into the selection tools released through the Association’s weekly National Cattle Evaluation (NCE). AGI President Dan Moser says the extensive process of calibrating GE-EPDs results in further accuracy on more animals in the Association’s growing database, but with generally less incremental change with each consecutive calibration. “This latest calibration represents a fine-tuning of the genomic-enhanced EPDs provide
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Angus Convention 2015: Maternal Plus

During the 2015 Angus Convention, there was a producer panel discussing the American Angus Association's MaternalPlus program. Matt Perrier of Dalebanks Angus and Richard Tokach of Tokach Angus discussed a producer's perspective on the program. In this post I share some of their thoughts on the program. (Unfortunately, I didn't have the names of the panelists prior to taking notes, so I can't assign quotes to individual panelists.) Fertility is the number one driver of profitability. No matter how well they grow, how well they grade, if she can't reproducer herself, she can't be profitable. We could have both animals that are great in terms of performance and carcass quality, as well as fertility. MaternalPlus provides us an opportunity to record reproductive data and to produce estimates of fertility. The graphs through the program are also very helpful. MaternalPlus is a tool the association gives you. You can choose to use it or not. But, MaternalPlu
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A new tool for selecting commercial beef heifers: genomics

Guest Post Written by David Hoffman, MU Extension Livestock Specialist/County Program Director Spring is quickly approaching.  That means warmer weather and green grass are on the way.  For the cow/calf producers, it means that calving is in full swing (or about over for some) and the breeding season is just around the corner. Decisions are being made that will impact the cattle operation for several years, such as the next herd bull to purchase or the sires to breed cows and heifers through artificial insemination.  Some producers spend many hours in selecting the right bull for their operation, looking over pedigrees, EPDs, performance data, etc.  There is a tremendous amount of data available on purebred cattle, but limited genetic data on commercial cattle. In the past, selection for our commercial replacements has been on individual performance, structural soundness, body phenotype and possibly genetic information about sire(s) and/or dam. There has been little to no measure
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