Genomics here to stay in cattle breeding

Put the word genomics in your vocabulary, as it’s here to stay, and its impact on cattle management and breeding is only going to intensify.

That’s what farmers at the recent Teagasc National Beef Conference heard from speakers from Teagasc, and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation.

They said the new technology called genomic selection will increase the reliability of genetic evaluations of cattle.

The extent to which the reliability improves will depend on the number of animals with genotype and performance information available.

Increased reliability from genomics means greater confidence that the published values of a given animal will translate into progeny performance or, in other words, less fluctuations in proofs over time. This contributes to accelerated genetic gain.

Although most commentary globally is on genomic evaluations, further potential benefits from genomics exist.

All benefits can be realised from just a single biological sample which could be blood, hair, ear biopsy, meat, or semen and is available to all farmers for €22. This price is 8% of the cost several years ago, and is expected to become cheaper in the coming years.

Genomics is simply the study of DNA. Observed animal performance is a function of its DNA, and the management it was, and is, exposed to.

Many uses exist for DNA, including parentage verification/assignment, mating advice to minimise inbreeding, monitoring of major genes or unfavourable DNA mutations, as well as increased accuracy of genetic evaluations.

The benefits of including DNA in genetic evaluations are well proven and accepted in dairying, with 70% of dairy AI semen sold in Ireland last year being from DNA-tested bulls with no progeny.