A terminal sire selection index for UK beef cattle

AbstractA selection index which incorporates estimated breeding values of traits recorded in the United Kingdom pedigree beef cattle breeds is described. The breeding objective is made up of commercial carcass, calving difficulty and gestation length traits. Economic values for these breeding objective traits are summarized from related studies, while partial genetic regression estimates of breeding objective traits on recorded traits are derived mainly from the literature.The selection index is described in terms of the reduction in expected genetic response from selection on the index when individual recorded traits are omitted and the expected genetic responses in breeding objective traits with selection on the index under the assumption of mass selection. Failure to record all calving traits (birth weight, calving difficulty and gestation length) resulted in a reduction in expected economic response to selection of 8% from the situation where both calving traits and production traits (400-day weight, ultrasonic fat and muscle depths, and muscling score) are recorded. With a few stated exceptions, the index is relatively robust to errors in estimates of individual parameters.It is suggested that the total index be used to assist commercial bull and semen buyers in their selection decisions but that two sub-indices for calving and production traits also be published to allow buyers to adjust emphasis on the two groups of traits depending on their individual production circumstances.

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CALVING AND PREWEANING PERFORMANCE OF CROSSBRED PROGENY OF SOME FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC BEEF CATTLE BREEDS

Canadian Journal of Animal Science ◽

10.4141/cjas85-069 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 65 (3) ◽

pp. 583-593 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

J. A. NEWMAN ◽

A. K. W. TONG ◽

H. T. FREDEEN ◽

G. W. RAHNEFELD

Keyword(s):

Beef Cattle ◽

Cattle Breed ◽

Gestation Length ◽

Beef Cow ◽

Calving Ease ◽

Postnatal Mortality ◽

Beef Cattle Breeds ◽

Calving Difficulty ◽

Calving Traits ◽

Intermediate Performance

Charolais-, Simmental- and Limousin-sired calves are compared for calving traits and preweaning growth based on observations of 3939 calves born in 48 western Canadian beef cow herds of Hereford, Angus and Shorthorn breeding during the period 1970–1972. Hereford cows produced calves with longer gestation lengths, higher birth weights, slower preweaning growth, and lower weaning weights than Angus cows. Shorthorn cows produced progeny with the shortest gestation lengths and intermediate performance in other traits. Limousin sires produced calves with the longest gestation lengths, the least calving difficulty, the lightest birth weights, the lowest birth-to-weaning mortality, and the slowest preweaning growth. Charolais-sired and Simmental-sired calves did not differ significantly in gestation length, postnatal mortality or preweaning growth rate, but Simmental-sired calves were lighter at birth and calved more easily. Breed-of-sire effects interacted with breed-of-dam effects for birth weight and with sex-of-calf effects for calving ease and most measurement traits, but these interactions did not generally involve a re-ranking of sire breeds. The economic impact of the results is briefly discussed. Key words: Beef cattle, breed effects, preweaning traits

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Experiences in selecting on a total merit index in the Austrian fleckvieh breed

Biotechnology in Animal Husbandry ◽

10.2298/bah0602017m ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 22 (1-2) ◽

pp. 17-27 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

J. Miesenberger ◽

C. Fuerst

Keyword(s):

Selection Index ◽

Cattle Breed ◽

International Exchange ◽

Production Traits ◽

Economic Gain ◽

Milk Traits ◽

Breeding Values ◽

Breeding Objective ◽

Economic Weights ◽

Estimated Breeding Values

Spotted cattle breed is the most common breed in Austria. Austrian Spotted cattle breed is bred as a dual purpose breed for more than 100 years. The breeding objective has changed over the time according to the different economic importance of the traits and according to the different possibilities in using estimated breeding values (EBVs) for selection. Since 1998 the breeding objective is defined as the aggregate genotype of production traits and functional traits. All economically important traits are combined according to their economic weights in the total merit index (TMI). The TMI is calculated by combining the EBVs of all traits using a selection index procedure. The index weights (b-values) are estimated depending on the reliabilities of the EBVs and are therefore different from animal to animal. Considering the intensive international exchange of semen from the best bulls, the cooperation in the breeding programs and the similar economic situation in agriculture the breeding organizations of Germany and Austria decided to make a joint across-country evaluation for all traits. Since November 2002 breeding values for all traits and as a logical conclusion the TMI are evaluated jointly. The result is a high acceptance of the EBVs and the TMI by the farmers because of smaller changes of the breeding values for national and foreign bulls between consecutive evaluations. The realized economic gain in the different traits is very close to the expected economic gain. In the last 10 years on average 88.2 % of the economic gain were realized in the milk traits, 4.2 % in the beef traits and 7.6 % were realized in the fitness traits.

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Selecting terminal beef sires on their estimated breeding values for economic efficiency

Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science ◽

10.1017/s0308229600028932 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 1995 ◽

pp. 127-127

Author(s):

Margaret E King ◽

P J Broadbent

Keyword(s):

Economic Efficiency ◽

Feed Intake ◽

Performance Test ◽

Production Systems ◽

Selection Index ◽

Performance Testing ◽

Breeding Value ◽

Gestation Length ◽

Beef Production ◽

Calving Difficulty

The selection objective of the SAC Simmental MOET Project, is to improve the economic efficiency of lean, or saleable, meat production in crossbred beef production systems.The factors which contribute to the selection objective are the yield of saleable meat, feed intake and calving difficulty. These goal characteristics are combined into an index by taking into account their respective financial values and costs. Calves generated by multiple ovulation and embryo transfer (MOET) are weaned from their recipient dams at 10 weeks old and placed in performance test from 5 to 11 months of age. At the end of the performance test, saleable meat yield is estimated from liveweight at end of test, ultrasonic fat depth measurements and muscling score. Calving difficulty is predicted from the birthweight and gestation length of the animal on test whilst feed intake is measured directly by recording individual food intakes during performance testing. The estimated breeding value for the selection index of an animal is expressed in Â£'s (pounds sterling) as deviations from a mean of zero for the SAC population of Simmentals. It is calculated using the information for each animal plus that of all its relatives in its own and other performance tests by means of BLUP procedures.The objective of the work described here was to evaluate the effectiveness of the selection index in identifying sires of superior genetic merit for use in crossbred beef production systems.

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Developing breeding objectives for australian beef cattle production

Animal Science ◽

10.1017/s0003356100004232 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 35-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 70

Author(s):

R. W. Ponzoni ◽

S. Newman

Keyword(s):

Food Intake ◽

Beef Cattle ◽

Growth Traits ◽

Selection Index ◽

Economic Value ◽

Biological Traits ◽

Breeding Objective ◽

Breeding Objectives ◽

Domestic Livestock ◽

Breeding Herd

ABSTRACTA sequential procedure for the development of breeding objectives for beef cattle improvement is presented. The procedure is general, and could be used for other types of domestic livestock. The development proceeds in four phases: (1) specification of the breeding, production and marketing system; (2) identification of sources of income and expenses; (3) determination of biological traits influencing income and expense; (4) derivation of the economic value of each trait, based on discounted gene flow methods. As an example, a breeding objective is developed for a pure breeding herd from which male calves are marketed at 9 months of age and surplus heifers are sold at 15 months of age. Situations examined included: (1) the effect of discounting on the breeding objective (income and expense per year v. discounting at 0, 5 and 10%); (2) the effect of ignoring the economic value for food intake in the objective; (3) the effect of inclusion of yearling weight or the deletion of calving date from the selection index. In general, correlations between objectives for discounting and income and expense per year were greater than 0·95, whereas correlations between indices were greater than 0·85. Setting food costs equal to zero shifted emphasis from reproduction to growth traits, with a consequent increase in food intake. The addition of yearling weight to the index caused a small increase in the accuracy of the index, whereas the deletion of calving date had a large effect, halving the accuracy of the index. The practical implications of the results are discussed.

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Reducing methane emissions by including methane production or feed intake in genetic selection programmes for Suffolk sheep

The Journal of Agricultural Science ◽

10.1017/s0021859612001037 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 151 (6) ◽

pp. 872-888 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

D. J. COTTLE ◽

J. CONINGTON

Keyword(s):

Feed Intake ◽

Selective Breeding ◽

Deterministic Model ◽

Selection Index ◽

Farming Systems ◽

Carbon Price ◽

Breeding Systems ◽

Production Traits ◽

Breeding Objective ◽

Feed Costs

SUMMARYThe use of selective breeding to reduce methane (CH4) emissions is an option for reducing carbon emissions from livestock farming systems. The current study models UK lowland terminal sire (meat) sheep production systems to study the impacts of including CH4 emissions and/or feed intake as breeding objective and selection criteria traits in sheep breeding systems, on the predicted genetic responses of production traits. Nine breeding goal traits and 15 selection index traits were modelled in a Suffolk breeding flock with a deterministic model of trait economic values (EVs). Methane was given an EV equivalent to a carbon price varying from £0 to £538/t CO2-e. When currently used selection indices added feed intake as a breeding objective, CH4 reductions of 0·15 and 0·05 kg CO2-e/sheep/year were predicted when intake was, or was not, measured, respectively, with a zero carbon price. These reductions were relatively insensitive to carbon price. Overall economic (index) response to selection was insensitive to carbon price and increased with higher feed costs, when neither CH4 nor feed intake was measured. When CH4 and/or intake were measured, overall economic responses increased with higher carbon prices, when feed costs were zero. Methane and intake responses were only sensitive to carbon price (whether CH4 and intake were measured or not) when feed costs were zero. To achieve a desired reduction of 0·1 kg CH4/head/year (cumulative 30% reduction in 20 years) when feed costs were zero, CH4 and/or intake needed to be measured. If CH4 was measured, carbon price needed to be >£50/t CO2-e; if intake was measured carbon price needed to be >£100/t CO2-e. Including feed intake as a breeding objective trait with non-zero feed costs should assist in reducing CH4 in breeding programmes. Selective breeding of terminal sheep by index selection has the potential to contribute a reduction of up to 0·27 kg CO2-e per ewe per annum, depending on the traits measured, feed costs and carbon price. This would help meet the UK Government's greenhouse gas reduction targets for farming systems.

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Selection index for bulls of Holstein cattle in the Czech Republic

Czech Journal of Animal Science ◽

10.17221/4307-cjas ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 49 (No. 6) ◽

pp. 244-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

J. Přibyl ◽

P. Šafus ◽

M. Štípková ◽

L. Stádník ◽

V. Čermák

Keyword(s):

Selection Index ◽

Body Measurements ◽

Production Traits ◽

Linear Classification ◽

The Czech Republic ◽

Breeding Objective ◽

Body Conformation ◽

Milk Performance ◽

Source Of Information

Complex selection indexes are proposed for bulls of Holstein cattle in the Czech Republic. Partial breeding values for milk performance, fertility and body conformation are combined in the index. Conformation is expressed either by linear classification or by general characteristics and body measurements. Variants according to the traits included in breeding objective and in performance recordingwere tested – breeding objective comprised milk, meat, milkability, health, reproduction, longevity; production traits and linear classification of body conformation or production traits and general characteristics of body conformation and/or production traits, and general characteristics of body conformation and body measurements were used as source of information (in performancerecording). For practical use is recommended the variant of reduced selection index where milkability, health and meat performance were left out from breeding objective, and production traits and linear classification of body conformation were employed as a source of information. The index guarantees 69.30% reliability of breeding value estimate and the ratio of selection effects for milk, meat and secondary traits 78 : 8 : 14. The respective importance of milk performance in total (breeding values for milk and components) of reproduction and linear body classification as sources of information in the index are 79.61%, 15.52% and 4.86%.  

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Genetic improvements of beef cattle – the farmer/practitoner

Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science ◽

10.1017/s1752756200009066 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 2002 ◽

pp. 259-260

Author(s):

R Fuller

Keyword(s):

Beef Cattle ◽

Breeding Programme ◽

Production Traits ◽

Breeding Stock ◽

Genetic Merit ◽

The Cross ◽

Calving Difficulty

JSR Farms at Givendale runs a commercial cross-bred suckler herd of 100 cows alongside a pedigree Charolais herd of 110 cows. The Charolais breeding programme is focused on improving the output from the cross-bred herd by using BLUP to select sires with superior genetic merit for production traits. Breeding stock with high EBV’s for growth and carcase traits are selected for re-breeding and attention is also paid to 200 day milk EBV’s and to controlling the level of calving difficulty. Home-bred replacement heifers are selected with Beef Values ranked in the top 10% of the National breed and the stud of reference sires used in the programme have Beef Values in the top 1% of the breed.

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Genetic improvements of beef cattle – the farmer/practioner

Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science ◽

10.1017/s175275620000630x ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 2001 ◽

pp. 270-271

Author(s):

R Fuller

Keyword(s):

Beef Cattle ◽

Breeding Programme ◽

Production Traits ◽

Breeding Stock ◽

Genetic Merit ◽

The Cross ◽

Calving Difficulty

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Genetic correlations between female fertility and postweaning growth and feed efficiency traits in multibreed beef cattle

Canadian Journal of Animal Science ◽

10.1139/cjas-2015-0175 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 96 (3) ◽

pp. 448-455 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Y. Mu ◽

G. Vander Voort ◽

M.K. Abo-Ismail ◽

R. Ventura ◽

J. Jamrozik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Beef Cattle ◽

Genetic Correlation ◽

Feed Intake ◽

Feed Efficiency ◽

Genetic Relationships ◽

Selection Index ◽

Genetic Correlations ◽

Residual Feed Intake ◽

Gestation Length ◽

Fertility Traits

With selection in beef cattle now incorporating feed efficiency, knowing the relationship with other traits is needed. Genetic relationships were estimated with an animal model in ASReml with a three-generation pedigree inclusive of 2882 animals. Multibreed data from two Ontario beef research farms with fertility traits were available on 1366 females and postweaning traits, including feed efficiency on 1297 individuals. Estimates of heritability for fertility traits were low to moderate ranging from 0.03 ± 0.01 for pregnancy rate to 0.21 ± 0.02 for gestation length, and postweaning traits were moderate to high with feed conversion ratio at 0.22 ± 0.06 to mid-metabolic weight at 0.89 ± 0.01. Both dry matter intake and mid-metabolic weight were genetically correlated with most fertility traits from −0.52 to 0.34. The genetic correlation between average daily gain and days to calving was moderately negative (–0.33 ± 0.16) as was residual feed intake with days to calving (–0.34 ± 0.17). Bigger cows with more feed intake and faster growth were more fertile, and residual feed intake had an unfavorable genetic correlation with days to calving, indicating that programs to select for feed efficiency should include fertility simultaneously in a selection index.

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