Genomics , does it work?

tanko

There's a lot of talk about genomics at the moment with the new beef data and genomics scheme. I'm just wondering does anyone know if it actually works.
I think it has been used in the dairy industry for a while now.
Are young Bulls which are picked for breeding on the basis of their DNA profile standing the test of time and producing the quality stock they are supposed to produce? Has it been used in other countries?
Anyone got any opinions on this.

freedominacup

tanko wrote: »

There's a lot of talk about genomics at the moment with the new beef data and genomics scheme. I'm just wondering does anyone know if it actually works.
I think it has been used in the dairy industry for a while now.
Are young Bulls which are picked for breeding on the basis of their DNA profile standing the test of time and producing the quality stock they are supposed to produce? Has it been used in other countries?
Anyone got any opinions on this.

According to the sister it should. She should know having a PhD in what it's based on. She was skeptical enough at the start but that was because she had been out of the loop for a couple of years when there was a bit of a leap forward in the affordability of computer processing power. This also meant that genomic proofs became cheaper to get than progeny proofs. That's the main reason they're doing it, that and the fact that s genomic proof is available in weeks not years.

All that said you still need the index to reflect what you want in your stock for it to be of full benefit to you

ganmo

There's a step that is called training the chip which is done once and if it's not updated I fear will over time will result in missing new(benificial ) mutations

stanflt

I embraced genomics from the start using genomic bulls as my father was involved in the old Dublin district milk board- while involved their we used a lot of test bulls every year that would take up to 10 years to get a reliable proof so we had nothing to lose in terms of risk if it went wrong- it speeded up the process and identified the dude bulls almost instantly

5 years ago we started genotyping all the replacement heifers and keeping only the ones with the best genomic results for fertility and milk production index

The rest they say is history- in 2013 we delivered 669kg ms per cow and had a ci of 363 day

Output increased 20% and calving interval was reduced in 5 years by 60 days at no extra cost- in fact at a cheaper cost as the genomic straws were cheaper than unrealisable proven bulls

The average milk price I'm getting is getting higher and higher every year compared to the base milk price due to breeding higher solids cows
Ai costs have over halved because of a more fertile cow requiring less served to conceive
Also my stock sales have dramatically increased in price per animal as a result in breeding quality stock that deliver in any herd

Also to top it off I sold a bull calf to ai this year for 16000euro

So I ask you do you have faith in genomics or are to listening to people who are against it as it has devalued their stock

patsy_mccabe

I see that ICBF have now added a Genomics Valuation symbol to all tested animals in the pedigree. They also show if the sire of an animal has been verified. Only noticed it there now.

High bike

No doubt it does work to a certain degree but you need to trust your own judgement aswell .No point in having a five star cow with all the bells and whistles if she's not producing the goods,and likewise don't cull cows just because they'r 1 star if they'r performing well

patsy_mccabe

Say you get a young bull or heifer genomically tested. This will verify if the sire is correct or in agreement with what you say it is.
How much further does it go? Say if the mother was never genomically tested, can they pick up an error in her back breeding? How many generations back can they go?

Hard Knocks

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Say you get a young bull or heifer genomically tested. This will verify if the sire is correct or in agreement with what you say it is.
How much further does it go? Say if the mother was never genomically tested, can they pick up an error in her back breeding? How many generations back can they go?

I got some done & it appears to be just proof of parentage

patsy_mccabe

Hard Knocks wrote: »

I got some done & it appears to be just proof of parentage

What if the mother was never genotyped?

Hard Knocks

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

What if the mother was never genotyped?

It doesn’t seem to make a difference
I think the Dam is taking to have correct breeding unless proved otherwise.

Pity the bad test couldn’t be used on 2 fold
Bad & DNA

Bellview

patsy_mccabe wrote:

What if the mother was never genotyped?

Angus society now getting all first calves genomic tested so at least in the future the herd will be correct