A Steak in Genomics™

Figure 1 from Durbin et al. 2020. We recently posted a preprint (a research publication that has not yet been peer reviewed) to the bioRxiv server. You can read the article here:  https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.21.109553   *Update: Peer-reviewed, published paper is available open-access here:  https://gsejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12711-020-00584-0  "Development of a genetic evaluation for hair shedding in American Angus cattle to improve thermotolerance" This manuscript describes our work with Angus breeders and Angus Genetics Inc. to create a hair shedding EPD for the American Angus Association. We learned a lot of cool things about hair shedding in this paper. Including how hair shedding is related to other traits and how hair shedding is related to the environment. 1) Negative Relationship Between Milk and Growth Something interesting to me was to learn more about the genetic correlation between weaning weight direct and weaning weight maternal...

At the National Western Stock Show, I had a great discussion with the American Angus Association board and members. Angus Media put together a nice summary of that presentation.

Use Information Extracted from Data to Breed a Better Calf Crop and Cow Herd Here is a fun conversation starter on your next visit to the coffee shop or diner. What is the most important trait in cattle production? What trait do you think is most important? Another way to ask this question, how do you define a "good" cow? In a typical group of cattle producers, you will get a lot of different answers. One person will say weaning weight and another will say marbling. A third may say calving ease, "Gotta have a live calf." A fourth may say fertility. But, why are these different traits important? Because they affect the profitability of beef operations! Profit is the most important trait in beef production. The profitability of a bull's or cow's calves should be our number one criterion when selecting breeding stock.  How many beef producers go to a bull sale to buy a load of soil or a bag of feed? In other words, do we go to a bull sale to buy the environmen...

We will have a scientific article describing the hair shedding research soon. Work was completed by Harly Durbin during her time at Angus Genetics Inc. as an intern.

Darrh Bullock University of Kentucky Precision agriculture has come to various industries. Luckily, there are already tools to do precision breeding in beef cattle. Let's talk about farm/ranch goals. For example, our goals may be to Support two families Keep workers safe Effectively use the resources we have Breeding objectives are genetically influenced objectives to help achieve farm and ranch goals. In Darrh's opinion, breeding objectives should impact the quality of life of the farm and ranch owners and workers. These objectives should improve economic, social, welfare and convenience factors of a farm. Certain traits in our breeding objective will allow us to be more efficient and have a smaller environmental impact. Other traits will be in our breeding objective simply because they make our life more convenient. Darrh pointed out that production efficiency is the key. The beef industry needs to reduce the amount of mature size and milk so that cows are mor...

I will be hosting a webinar tomorrow night, October 24th, at 6:30 PM Central Daylight Time. We will discuss EPD basics, genomic testing, selection decisions, and considerations for using EPDs. You can join the Zoom Meeting by clicking the link below: https://missouri.zoom.us/j/134203468 You will need to install Zoom on your computer prior to joining the webinar. You can also join by phone for audio. Dial by your location          +1 646 876 9923 US (New York)         +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 134 203 468 Webinar is limited to the first 100 participants. Participants will be able to type questions in the chat box. Looking forward to the webinar tomorrow night!

by Ryan Boldt, Director of Breed Improvement, RAAA Selection for carcass trait performance is important to keep in mind when making bull-purchasing decisions. Most carcass traits are moderately heritable in nature. In seedstock animals, the best method to collect information about carcass-trait performance is through the use of ultrasound imagining. Generally, ultrasound information is collected on seedstock animals at a year of age. When an ultrasound is collected, up to four measurements are taken. The most common measurements recorded include intramuscular fat, backfat, and rib eye area which serves as the best indicators for carcass marbling score, carcass back fat and carcass ribeye area. The ultrasound information is collected via a probe that emits high-frequency sound waves. The probe is placed on the animals back and an image is created that shows the difference between different tissues under the animal’s hide. These images are captured by a certified ultrasound techn...

For more information, see " The Random Shuffle of Genes: Putting the E in EPD ".

Great short video on the use of EPDs, including the importance of the definition of EPD. Big shout out to Jordan Thomas for making these great videos. This one features my graduate student, Troy Rowan . Also, if you aren't following MizzouRepro on social media, you should start!

Bob Hough recently posted the following comment on Facebook (posted with his permission): Early in my career at a breed association, the much beloved American Angus breed executive told me that the secret to success running a breed association was to have a top junior program, keep the books straight, and make sure the numbers (EPDs) don't change. This philosophy meant Angus valued stability in their genetic predictions over keeping them up-to-date with the latest science. The Angus Association also marketed extremely effectively the infallibility of their EPDs because of the size of their database. I will start with the later. Yes, a database needs certain critical mass to make sure the animals are tied, but that can be achieved in a modest size database. After that, data quality far and away outweighs data quantity in assuring the most precise and reliable EPDs possible. On the former point, Angus breeders are simply not use to change. This is not the case in most breed associ...

At the January 4th Show-Me-Select Board of Directors meeting, new service sire EPD requirements were approved. All sires, artificial insemination and natural service, must meet minimum Calving Ease Direct (CED) EPD requirements. In addition to yearly updates, two changes were made. First, no Birth Weight EPD requirement will be published. All commonly used breeds now have CED EPDs available. Second, all breeds in the International Genetic Solutions (IGS) genetic evaluation are now set to a common requirement. In the summer of 2018, breeds within the International Genetic Solutions switched to a single-step BOLT multi-breed genetic evaluation. The EPDs for animals in the IGS genetic evaluation are directly comparable across breeds. In 2017, the Red Angus requirement for CED was a CED of 8, which represents the 30th percentile. Less than 5% percent of heifers breed to a bull with a CED EPD of 8 or larger had calving difficulty. We feel that this require is meeting the need to re...

Written by Duane Dailey Beef cattlemen will gain insights into Show-Me-Select replacement heifers Friday, Jan. 4, at the start of their annual meeting in Columbia. The Missouri Cattlemen’s Association (www.mocattle.org) meeting runs Jan. 4-6, 2019, at the Holiday Inn Executive Center. The SMS group usually meets at the University of Missouri campus in Columbia. They will join on the first day for the heifer meetings. “Joining two groups benefits both,” says Dave Patterson, MU Extension beef reproduction specialist. “Both sides gain.” An educational seminar is planned for 2-5 p.m. on Jan. 4. Focus is on heifer development. Highlights are two SMS panels. The first covers “The Role of the Veterinarian in Heifer Development.” The other has five producers telling of success. Many veterinarians urge clients to follow breeding protocols of MU Extension for heifer development. A big SMS attraction to farmers is calving ease. Trouble-free calving also gains favor with veterinarians. Tha...

Steve Miller Angus Genetics Inc. Details of genetic evaluation are published in their Sire Evaluation Report. angus.org/nce  The first four papers of the report contains the details of the evaluation. Miller states that it actually functions as a nice animal breeding textbook. Angus Genetics, Inc. does evaluations for 6 clients, ranging from weekly to annual evaluations. The weekly evaluation of Angus is a bit like Groundhog Day, same thing week after week. The Angus Association uses an unweighted single-step approach, and the development of this method is the result of lots of research that has been peer-reviewed and published. When they switched to single-step they asked the question if the new evaluation was actually better. They compared to the independent evaluation done by USDA-MARC. The new evaluation performed better. Because the single-step model allowed them to fit more traits in the same model, they improved the carcass trait model. By adding in weaning weigh...

Megan Rolf Kansas State University What is genomic testing? We are looking at single base changes (SNPs) at thousands of locations across an animals DNA. We can use these DNA markers to predict genetic merit differences. We can also use these DNA markers for parentage. Other DNA test don't use markers, but they directly test the variant responsible for the phenotype. Examples of this are genetic defects or coat color testing. Genotyping in seedstock We collect a DNA sample, send it off to the breed assocation, and the data is incorporated into EPDs. DNA testing for genomic-enhanced EPDs is a breed improvement strategy. It is a way to make genetic progress faster. For a seedstock producer, it also provides customer service by providing more accurate EPDs. We can used DNA to improve EPDs using two approaches. First, we can use a DNA to create a prediction of the trait and blend this prediction with the EPD. Or, we can use the DNA to better estimate the relatedness between ...

Darrh Bullock University of Kentucky Crossbreeding should always be a consideration for commercial cattlemen. Crossbreeding has the greatest benefit for reproduction and other lowly heritable breeds. Practical Guide to Bull Buying Determine marketing strategy. Will heifers be retained? Make breeding decisions based on specific marketing plan. But, change marketing plan based on current situations. It's pretty easy to find a bull that will give you great feeder calves and market animals. When we are keeping replacement females, we are now asking a bull to create females and feeder calves. We've given him a new job. Determine your management level. What is your labor? How frequently do you visit your cattle? How much attention do you give to them? What is your level of nutritional management? Assure that bulls are reproductively sound with a BSE. Check for structural soundness. This is doubly important if you are retaining females. The tough one is to set performa...

Jared Decker, PhD University of Missouri One point must be clear from the very beginning: EPDs work . When we select parents based on EPDs the genetic merit for that trait increases in our herd. When we select the parents using EPDs the performance of the next generation improves. EPDs Defined EPD stands for Expected Progeny Difference. These three words are loaded with meaning, thus the need to define them here. The most loaded word is Expected. Here we use Expected the way a statistician would use the word. Expected means we are making a prediction of a future value. But, in this context, Expected also means we are describing the average of a group. What is the group for which we are predicting the average? We are predicting the average performance of the Progeny or calves out of an animal. An animal’s own performance and its EPD can be quite different, because that is not the purpose of an EPD. The EPD is predicting the average performance of that animal’s calf crop. Final...

The Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer Program recently announced the requirement that natural service sires have genomic-enhanced EPDs . Where possible, genomic-enhanced EPDs should be available on the bull prior to purchasing him. However, this is not always the case. Some previously purchased bulls will need to be tested prior to February 1, 2020. If GE-EPDs are needed, DNA testing should be purchased and ordered through the breed association in which the bull is registered. For example, DNA testing for an Angus bull should be purchased through Angus Genetics, Inc. Do NOT purchase tests designed for commercial heifers (Igenity Beef, GeneMax Advantage, Method Genetics, etc.). Here is information on purchasing DNA testing for GE-EPDs for several common breed associations used in the program: Angus Contact AGI Customer Services at 816-383-5100 for assistance. Submitting DNA Samples to Angus Genetics Collecting DNA Samples Testing Options Red Angus Contact RAAA Nation...

New sire selection rules for Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifers improve reliable calving-ease genetics. “Bulls used in the heifer program will carry DNA-tested EPDs (expected progeny differences),” said Jared Decker, University of Missouri Extension geneticist. The rules going into effect Feb. 1, 2019, were set by the SMS governing board of farmers. “DNA tests add reliability to EPDs for selecting herd bulls,” Decker said. Bulls for pasture-breeding heifers will carry genomic-enhanced EPDs. In the past, EPDs were based on pedigree and production tests. “Now GE EPDs combine DNA, pedigree and production data into a single tool,” he said. “DNA tests give results similar to 28 calving-ease production records,” Decker said. “More data boost confidence in a sire.” With DNA tests, EPDs result from checking blood drops, tissue samples or hair root bulbs. Blood or tissue tests are preferred, Decker said. A one-time test adds data on young bulls equal to years of production testing....

All bulls purchased after February 1st, 2019 for use as natural service sires in the Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer Program ™  must be DNA tested to have genomic-enhanced EPDs. All bulls used as natural service sires after February 1st, 2020 must have genomic-enhanced EPDs, regardless of when they were purchased. Seedstock producers classifying bulls as Show-Me-Select qualified in sale books must have genomic-enhanced EPDs on those lots. Bulls purchased prior to February 1st, 2019 will be grandfathered into the program, as is the common practice with all natural service sires. However, this grandfather grace period will end February 1st, 2020. At that time for a bull to qualify for use in the program, it must have genomic-enhanced EPDs. Why the change? The Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer Program has the goal of producing premium heifers that perform predictably as 2 year olds. The program has a history of requiring Show-Me-Select producers to go beyond typical...

Steve Miller Angus Genetics Inc has four research scientists. They do single-step genomic evaluations for Angus, Canadian Angus, Charolais, Canadian Charolais, and Maine-Anjou. Angus switched to single-step on July 7th, 2017. Miller feels like the switch to single-step was a monumental switch, should have made the Time Magazine year in review! When breeders see bulls re-rank, they then understand was a correlation of 0.9 really means! On July 7th, Steve Miller talked to two breeders. On July 8th he was feel cool and casual like Ferris Buller. The next week, then the calls came. "I've seen this before, in a couple of months it will all blow over" a friend told Miller. And that proved true. The switch to single-step was kind of like the stages of grief with getting a flat tire. Quiet phase: Listening, evaluating, asking yourself if you have a flat tire. Expressive phase: Cussing, kicking dirt, frustrated. Have to Move Forward phase: Fixing the tire and getting ...