BDGP: genotypes delayed until August
The decision to defer the roll-out of beef genomic evaluations by ICBF was taken at an industry meeting in late April.
The reason for the deferral is a request from the wider beef breeding industry, including AI companies, herdbooks and suckler farmers, to have genomics for female fertility included.
Due to technical challenges, this work will not be completed until August.
The alternative was to go with genomics for all traits except female fertility now, and add the genomics for female fertility in August.
However, the consensus at the industry meeting was it would be better for farmers and the industry, if all changes were introduced at once.
In the meantime, ICBF is advising farmers who need to select heifers or bulls to pick the highest Euro-star ratings available from the current evaluations, based on the relevant index.
According to ICBF, the majority of animals’ evaluations will not move significantly.
Even after genomics is introduced, Euro-Star ratings for animals will change, as animals get more data/performance records in the system, and as genomic evaluation systems improve in the future.
