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Showing posts from January, 2017

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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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AgFRONT: The Path To A Successful Technology Commercialization

By Elisa Marques Over the last 15 years, I have seen successful launches and some real flops in the path to genomics and biotechnology commercialization. If I were to think about the times we were successful, I would say that in almost all of those cases, we had mastered every single aspect of: Knowing Our Industry’s Players Understanding Our Audience Building a Team of Trusted Advisors The examples mentioned here are specific to the livestock industry, but the strategy itself goes well beyond this industry. For the full article visit the AgFRONT blog .
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eBEEF.org Hair shedding scores: A tool to select heat tolerant cattle

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I have published a new fact sheet at eBEEF.org , titled " Hair shedding scores: A tool to select heat tolerant cattle. " Hair shedding scores are an easy and effective way to measure cattle’s ability to cope with heat stress. In this fact sheet, learn the how, when, and why of hair shedding scores. As part of our work in matching a cow's genetics to her environment we have recruited 8,000 cattle to participate in a hair shedding genomic project . Producers collected hair shedding scores on their cattle and are sending us DNA samples for genomic testing. This work was supported by the USDA-NIFA [grant number 2016-68004-24827, Identifying Local Adaptation and Creating Region-Specific Genomic Predictions in Beef Cattle ].
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Brangus Journal: Using Genomics in Your Herd

My second piece on genomic prediction was published in the Brangus Journal back in December. The Dance Steps of Genomics Part II: Using Genomics in Your Herd This piece discusses how we get started with genomic testing. What animals should we DNA test and when should we test them? The first article in the series is available here .  What do you think of the article? As always, your feedback is welcome. Loading...
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Genomic Prediction Patented???

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Hat tip to Dr. John Cole, USDA, and Jesse Hoff for bringing this to my attention on Twitter . I need to make an important point: I am not a patent lawyer. I do not have a deep understanding of patent law and nothing in this post should be considered legal advice or council. On November 8, 2016 Canada issued a patent to Ben Hayes and Michael Goddard for genomic prediction. Genomic prediction is estimating an animal's breeding value (i.e. genetic merit) using DNA variants. See the Canadian Intellectual Property Office website for more detailed information about the patent. Meuwissen, Hayes and Goddard first published their work on genomic prediction in 2001. Hayes and Goddard filed for a patent of the method on December 21, 2007 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. About 23 days later, the Illumina BovineSNP50 Beadchip, a DNA test that can test 54,000 DNA variants quickly and cheaply for cattle, was released at the Plant and Animal Genome Conference. This 50K
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