Launch of genetic selection aid has beef producers agog at possibilities

A GENETIC selection aid described by one enthusiast as the "biggest step forward in beef production for more than 60 years" was launched yesterday at the UK's national beef event, Beef Expo 2010, at Hexham, Northumberland.

Pfizer Animal Genetics are introducing a genetic marker capable of accurately predicting the performance of animals for up to 14 traits from a hair sample taken at a few weeks of age.

The so-called 50k chip incorporates a staggering 50,000 markers, making it a much more powerful tool for animal selection than the company's present GeneStar marker which has only 56 markers.

"We are entering an exciting new genomics age in animal breeding and production," said Dr Heather Bessoff White, the company's Paris-based director. "The impact of genomics on animal production could be far greater than that of artificial insemination."

Gene markers are already available to indicate an animal's genetic potential for feed conversion, meat tenderness and marbling, but Pfizer say their new test could be applied to a range of characteristics, including disease susceptibility, responsiveness to vaccines, milk yield and compositional quality, fertility, vulnerability to lameness, calving ease and inherited defects.

A test done early a calf's life can be used to accelerate breeding and rearing decisions. Beef calves could be grouped according to their genetic strengths and weaknesses. Calves with high tenderness and marbling, for example, could go into a production system geared to high-value products, such as supermarket "premium" ranges, while others demonstrating feed conversion efficiency could be grouped to meet other market requirements.

Gloucester beef producer Paul Westaway is already using the new test to aid selection in his pedigree Aberdeen-Angus and commercial beef herds.

"This is the biggest step forward in beef production since artificial insemination was introduced in 1946," said Westaway. "Beef producers should see genomics as a means of producing beef more efficiently and increasing the profitability of their beef enterprise."

Westaway is currently using a bull in his herd which is predicted to improve profitability by 77 per finished animal, or 29p per kg deadweight, and has a young bull calf with a performance prediction of 133 or 51p per kg.

"Producers who believe they will get an extra 29p a kg from the market are living in cloud cuckoo land," he said.

"But you can achieve the equivalent improvement in financial performance by using the right genetics. Profit per head is much more important than price per kg."

Westaway said a test of 2,240 Aberdeen-Angus bulls in the US had proved that predictions were highly accurate for calving ease, weight gain, marbling, fat cover and rib eye area.

The 50k chip technology is already being used in New Zealand, Australia and USA and Pfizer are now rolling the system out in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.