A Steak in Genomics™

The beef industry values sustainability. We value successful operations that are passed on to generation after generation. That is why beef producers support  youth programs. Those of you who know me personally, know I am way too busy for my own good.  I've learned to say no and am making strides in simplifying. When the beef project leader in my kid's 4-H club came open, I should have kept my mouth shut. Instead, I volunteered to be the leader, because I value educating youth. I wanted to pay it forward and help kids fall in love with cattle the way I did. On Friday July 8th will be our Sturgeon Beef Show . I hope those of you in mid-Missouri will come out and enjoy the successes of our youth. If you are interested in sponsoring a breed champion, please let me know. Thanks to those who have already sponsored. Watch the blog for pictures of my little ones falling in love with cattle. If you time driving by my house just right,  you might even catch a glimpse of a comp...

Tonya Amen Consultant for Illumina, Inc. One dairy operation was making $35 per year progress for net merit. After using genomics in late 2009, they were making $50 per year in progress for net merit. After they started testing females, this rate increased to nearly $80. This dairy herd is now seeing $340 more in life time production by using genomics. From 2005 to 2008, $B was increasing by $3.77 per year. From 2009 to 2015, $B increased by $5.62 per year. From 2013 to 2015, $B increased by $9.31 per year. A 146% increase in genetic trend. We have seen more rapid genetic improvement in Angus, Hereford and Simmental, all of which line up nicely with the deployment of GE-EPDs. Thus, it is possible (likely?) that this improved genetic improvement is due to the benefit of genomics. In the dairy industry, genomics is equivalent to 25 production records, 25 conformation records, and 140 fertility records. Genomics is saving the Canadian dairy industry $111 million dollars ann...

Tom Short Zoetis Can genetic information from a simple DNA sample allow us to reasonable accuracy of the females lifetime performance? We know that our national cow herd inventory decreased to a very low level in 2014. When we rebuilt the cow herd did we keep low quality heifers that should have never been cows? What type of genomic prediction should we be using to select commercial heifers? GeneMax Advantage was produced by a collaboration of Angus Genetics Inc, Certified Angus Beef, and Zoetis. It is applicable to beef females that are at least 75% Black Angus. These predictions are based on the Zoetis HD50K product for Angus. The correlations between the genomic predictions and the breeding value are all quite good, around 75%. The individual traits are combined into three indexes. These are a Cow Advantage Score, Feeder Advantage Score, and Total Advantage Score. The correlation between Total Advantage and the Cow and Feeder indexes are about 70%, but the correlation b...

Breeding objectives indicate value of genomics for beef cattle Dr. Mike MacNeil DeltaG Is genomic testing a good value to seedstock producers? The answer to this question requires several different lines of thought. To answer this we need a system based approach. What makes up a genetic prediction? Information from relatives Molecular breeding value Correlated phenotypes Phenotype No individual animal in a genetic prediction ever has an accuracy of prediction of zero. The information from the calf's relatives brings in substantial amount of information. What are the advantageous of genomic prediction? 1) Increase accuracy of evaluation 2) More exciting is the opportunity to incorporate additional traits costly or difficult to measure measured late in life (after the time of selection decisions) sex-limited 3) Avoid prolonged generation intervals. For many selection decisions in beef cattle, we make many selection decisions around a year of age. 4)...

Dr. Mark Enns Colorado State University If we had the ability to improve maintenance feed consumption likely would improve profitiability of beef production. To make genetic improvement we need genetic variability. Is there variability for maintenance energy? Hotovy et al 1991 measured intake and fasting heat production on twins to estimate heritability of maintenance energy. The heritability was 0.51. But, putting a large number of cattle through metabolism chambers is not feasible. What tools are available to change maintenance energy? Mature weight and height Body condition scores Maintenance energy EPD For two beef breeds, we see an unfavorable trend for mature size. If we go from a 1000 pound cow to a 1500 pound cow, we have increased the maintenance requirement by 35.5%. But, maintenance energy is a function of both body weight and milk production. $EN index produced by the Angus Association is an economic index weighting both body weight and milk production. ...

Dr. Dave Lalman Oklahoma State University Lalman points out that we have made tremendous change for post weaning growth. Right now finished cattle weights are increasing at a rate of 9.4 pounds per year. Carcass weights are increasing by 5.7 pounds per year. Marbling has also increased over time. Compared with 1995, we have seen fewer yield grade 1s and 2s, but we have seen more yield grade 4s and 5s. The number of yield grade 3s has increased from 34.2% to 46.7%. The cow-calf sector and the entire industry have responded for the need for increased post-weaning performance and carcass quality. The increase in calf prices has increased by $5.25 per hundred weight (cwt) per year. The increase in costs has increase by $5 per year. Profitability appears to not have changed that much. Lalman discussed analyses by Pendell and coworkers published in 2015, in which they analyzed Kansas Farm Management Association data. The data had information from 79 operations with data from 201...

Dr. Matt Spangler University of Nebraska-Lincoln A seedstock producer's goal should be faster genetic progress ( breeders equation ). But, we need to balance this by the cost of the genetic progress. Although some of these traits are interesting to us as biologist (what Spangler termed "biological intrigue"), what really matters at the end of the day is improving cattle. What is the difference between an indicator trait and economically relevant traits? Economically relevant traits are traits that directly impact profit by either influencing revenues or expenses. Indicator traits are traits that are recorded because they allow us to more reliably predict economically relevant traits. An example of this would be calving ease direct and birth weight. No one gets paid for or has costs associated with birth weights. But, birth weight is a great indicator of calving ease, because calving ease can have economic impacts through labor, dead calves, cows that don't rebr...