A Steak in Genomics™

Head on over to the Brangus Journal website to see some of my latest writing on genomic prediction. The Dance Steps of Genomics Part I: Understanding Genomic Prediction Personally, it is probably my favorite of the articles I have written, so I would encourage you to make the time to read it. What do you think of the article? As always, your feedback is welcome. Loading...

Stacy Sanders and SyAnn Foster AHA "When we do things electronically, we are no longer waiting on the postal service," said Stacy Sanders. He also noted that electronic reporting did not require any handling or processing by the association staff. The electronic recording also eliminates paper work and automatically uses semen certificates that have been released to the breeder. In addition to the AHA myHERD.org service, the association also allows you to use Genetic and Economic Management (G.E.M.) and CattleMax. AHA is also working with the smart phone app CALF BOOK. "We want to give you options, we want to give you something that works for you," Sanders said. The myHERD service is also switching to a different system to enable a faster web interface, which will also work better on smaller screens like tablets and smartphones. AHA has a goal of 80% of records turned in electronically. Weaning and yearling data is currently above 80% reported electroni...

This weekend I get to cross the state to visit with several producer groups. Friday November 4th I will be speaking at 3pm at the Joplin Regional Stockyards during the Central States Beefmaster Breeders Association field day . The CSBBA will be having a performance bull sale at the Joplin Regional Stockyards the next day at 1 pm. I will be discussing the how and why of genomics. Saturday, at 8am I will be speaking as part of the Pearls of Production Program at the University of Missouri South Farm Research Center in Columbia, MO. I will be discussing bull selection, and the South Farm herd bulls will be on display for viewing. Saturday at 7 pm I will be speaking at the  2016 Beef Producers Seminar in Maryville, MO. The trade show will start at 2pm with demonstrations and presentations to follow.  I will be discussing genomic prediction, and we will have a live animal demonstration with a set of heifers that have commercial heifer genomic predictions. Google says this...

          According to Garry L. Mathes, chair of the 2016 Missouri Livestock Symposium, producers and land owners coming to the Missouri Livestock Symposium to participate in the farm management section can expect the speaker lineup to address some of the toughest questions facing agriculture today. Mathes continues to say that the Missouri Livestock Symposium continually strives to be on the cutting edge of producer education and our Farm Management section is designed to do just that. Dr. Scott Brown, University of Missouri ag economist, will return for the Saturday program to lead two discussions. The first talk focuses on “Land Values and Cash Rents: How Far Will They Fall” and the second talk concentrates on “Who is Winning the Agricultural Trade Game.” Dr. Brown brings many years of experience dealing with agricultural economics and farm management. Mathes notes Scott is an exceptional speaker and no one will want to miss his presentations.  Als...

Economically relevant traits (ERTs) are those that are directly associated with either a cost or a source of revenue.  Not all Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs) represent traits that are ERTs, and instead represent indicator traits. It is important for producers to know the difference between ERTs and indicator traits when making selection decisions. For more information, see the eBEEF.org factsheet " Economically Relevant Traits ."

Matt Spangler University of Nebraska-Lincoln In the past, the only way we made improvement was through visual appraisal. Photo from Harlan Ritchie's Beef Review. Difference between 1835 and 1937 champion. As the picture above shows, we can make a change, but how many of us want to wait 100 years? Improvement can be accomplished through management and genetics. In the past we (animal breeding scientist) have probably done a disservice to the industry by producing lots of EPDs, then dumping those in beef producers lap and then expect you all to make meaningful decisions with them. In some situations, this may be as valuable as a free cat. There are many factors that can influence an animals record, for example a weaning weight. Weaning weight may be affected by age of the calf, age of the dam, how much it was feed, and other environmental factors. So, we need to compare animals to their contemporaries, Contemporaries are animals of the same sex, raised at the same ra...

Steve Miller AGI Angus Genetic Services provides evaluations for AAA, CAA, and Charolais breed associations. "The ship has sailed on using genomics. Breeders are using it now, and seeing the benefits of it," said Miller. Previously at AGI, they have been using a two-step approach. In this method, a genomic prediction is created and then is used as an indicator trait for EPD estimation. The calibration data set size has increased dramatically as Angus breeders have used genomic-enhanced EPDs. The orgininal method of incorporting genomic predictions as correlated trait. In the future, we will stop referring to genomic-enhanced EPDs. We don't refer to EPDs as pedigree-enhanced or performance-enhanced, we simply refer to them as EPDs. In the future use of genomic data in genetic prediction will become so routine that we will simply call them EPDs. Is the Animal Model Obsolute? In single-step genomic prediction, we combine the measures of relatedness from pedig...