Record sires on passports, urge geneticists
Beef and dairy farmers are being urged to start recording sire information on youngstock passports after it was revealed that this information is currently only recorded for one-third of cattle.
Three sources of information are brought together to produce breeding values
- BCMS – UK eartag, pedigree, breed, sex, birth date, date of death, movements
- Abattoirs – UK eartag, carcass weight (net), fat class, conformation grade, breed, sex, birth date, date of death
- Genetic evaluations / breed society data – UK eartag, pedigree information, breed, birth date, sex
Leading geneticists are asking farmers to go a step beyond compulsory dam recording to feed more data into a continually growing pool of abattoir and BCMS information that will lead to new carcass trait EBVs being “bolted on” to existing breeding programmes.
See also: Carcass data helps produce high-quality grass-fed beef
A range of breeds can expect EBVs for age at slaughter, carcass fat class, weight and conformation over the next year, according to AHDB beef and lamb breeding specialist Samuel Boon. However, he stressed that the system “hinges on” sire information being carried on passports.
He added: “This process takes us from analysing thousands of animals for measurements collected in pedigree herds each year to analysing hundreds of thousands, getting into the millions when done on a multi-breed basis.
“These traits are quite exciting as it will be the first time we have had EBVs for exactly those attributes farmers gets paid for. We are working with breed societies to discuss implementation and expect to see these traits becoming available in the next year.”