It’s an exciting time for Angus breeders across the United
States. On Wednesday, October 25
th Angus Genetics Incorporated (AGI),
part of the American Angus Association (AAA), will launch the first research expected progeny difference (EPD) for Functional Longevity.
The Angus breed and its Board of Directors have placed
developing genetic predictions of maternal function and longevity as a
strategic priority for several years. As a result of that enterprise, programs
like Angus Herd Improvement Records (AHIR) and Maternal Plus have been created,
leading to substantial data reporting and genotyping by breeders on their cow
herds. This initiative, combined with extensive work and due diligence by AGI
have resulted in the launch of a research version of the Functional Longevity EPD.
While some breeders may look at this trait and its
description and compare it to a traditional ‘Stayability’ EPD, I would caution
that interpretation. Traditional Stayability EPDs are reported as the increased
likelihood, or percentage, that a cow will stay in the herd until 6 years of
age. However, the new Functional Longevity EPD differentiates itself by taking
specific culling reasons into account, treating them all as ‘separate’ traits
and increasing the accuracy of the prediction. Therefore, AGI defines and
reports Functional Longevity as the number of calves a cow will produce by the
time she is 6 years old.
As an example, if a producer were to compare a Functional
Longevity EPD of 1.5 (Bull A) to 0.5 (Bull B), then he would expect daughters
kept from Bull A to have one more calf in their lifetime as compared to Bull B.
These differences become even greater when we consider the number of daughters a
bull puts into a herd in his lifetime.
It is important to note that because it is a research EPD,
values will initially be made available on high accuracy sires and to breeders
who participated in AHIR and Maternal Plus prior to July 15, 2023.
The work does not stop here. Breeders will notice initial
predictions of Functional Longevity may not show as much variation or accuracy
as other long standing trait predictions. This is to be expected. Those things
come with time and more (accurate and complete) information. I would encourage
all Angus breeders to consider participating in AHIR and Maternal Plus so they
can take full advantage of these new tools, all while helping to strengthen the
evaluation and the Angus breed. By participating in whole-herd reporting, every
trait in the genetic evaluation becomes more accurate as we remove the
opportunity for unintentionally
biased data. The tremendous added benefit of whole-herd reporting is the
ability to predict cow fertility traits. Most importantly, participating in
AHIR and Maternal Plus will help move this new EPD from a research tool into
routine production.
Breeders should keep in mind that like many fertility-oriented
traits, the heritability of Functional Longevity appears to range from 0.09 –
0.12, meaning that there is still a lot of environmental and managerial impact
on the physical expression of the trait. However, the fact that it is heritable
means that it can be placed into breeding objectives and result in genetic
progress.
Lastly, AGI has noted that their next steps are to
investigate how to incorporate this key maternal trait into their existing $M
index. The current timeline for completion is sometime in the Summer/Fall of
2024.
More information on AHIR, Maternal Plus, or Functional
Longevity can be found at angus.org.
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