Genomic tools can add value to your cow-calf breeding decisions, though genotyping has a cost. Your willingness to invest in genotyping will affect what information is available to you. However, there are ways you can apply genomic tools to add value to your herd over a range of investment levels. Livestock Gentec is a research centre of excellence at the University of Alberta with the goal of increasing the adoption of genomic technologies by commercial livestock producers. As such, we think it is important for producers to understand more about genomic technologies, innovations in the field, and how to apply them. In this article, we discuss a few practical considerations for using genomic tools to improve the profitability of your herd and provide an update from the Livestock Gentec research group.

Using hybrid vigour to improve profitability

The genetic improvement of your herd can drive profitability. An important part of genetic progress is optimizing hybrid vigour. Put simply, hybrid vigour is the improvement in the performance of hybrid offspring over the average performance of the parents. “Retained heterozygosity” is a measure proportional to hybrid vigour; the formula considers the number and proportion of breeds contributing to the makeup of the individual to assign a value. This technical detail matters – each 10% increase in retained heterozygosity resulted in linear improvements to 200-day weaning weight (+3 pounds), pregnancy rate (+2 percentage points), weaning rate (+3 percentage points), days in the herd (+51 days) and lifetime productivity (+79 pounds over five parities). It is estimated that more than 40% of cows and calves in Canada would benefit from a 30% increase in hybrid vigour. This means many commercial producers have a large opportunity to improve hybrid vigour and profitability. To understand your opportunity for genetic improvement driven by the adoption of genomic tools, the “gold standard” is to test each individual breeding bull and replacement heifer; however, a good low-cost alternative is testing a pooled DNA sample from a group of heifers.

The use of DNA pooling strategy can provide herd-level genomic breed composition and hybrid vigour. This is because there is a very strong relationship between measures from individual samples and DNA pooling for genomic breed composition (r = 0.95 to 0.99) and hybrid vigour (r = 0.99). This means a producer can benefit from accurate herd-level genomic breed information for a fraction of the cost. The pooling groups can be adjusted to optimize the cost-benefit, as their “smart selection” can turn this evaluation into actionable insight.

Individual genotyping and multitrait selection indexes

We can apply genomic tools with even more resolution by genotyping samples from all animals. When identifying individuals to genotype in your herd, we recommend the following prioritization: (1) breeding bulls, (2) replacement heifers and (3) cows/calves. This follows the potential for genetic improvement. With individual genotyping data, you can determine genomic expected progeny differences (gEPDs) in addition to genomic breed composition and hybrid vigour for all animals in the herd. These raw genomic values can be overwhelming, as there can be many gEPDs. This is clarified by using an economic model to quantify the relationship between the gEPDs and net return or profitability; some gEPDs are related to profitability while others are not and are excluded from the index. Thus, a multitrait selection index is the sum of economically relevant traits based on economically weighted gEPDs based on the associated gross income and cost of each trait. The Replacement Heifer Profitability Index (RHPI) scores developed by Livestock Gentec also includes retained heterozygosity to help identify the best heifers that should be kept in the herd with a higher probability of staying longer in the herd and producing more calves over their lifetimes. Having these index values on an individual level gives a profitability-based ranking of animals for herd management decisions such as breeding and heifer retention.


Research update from Livestock Gentec

In addition to educating producers on currently available genomic tools, we also think it is important to be aware of innovations in the field. Below are two projects the Livestock Gentec team is working on to further genomic technologies in beef.

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1. Using genomics to improve the profitability and sustainability of Alberta’s beef industry

The aim of this project is to increase the adoption of genomic tools in the industry and evaluate the effectiveness of these multitrait selection indexes (e.g., Feeder Profitability Index, or FPI; Replacement Heifer Profit Index, or RHPI) with a large producer representation. Gentec is increasing the size of the reference data sets to enhance the accuracy of gEPDs. To grow these data sets, we are enrolling producers willing to share records from their herds, as well as to genotype their animals. Participants get access to steeply discounted genotyping and a detailed report including the genomic values discussed above. This project is cost-shared by the federal and provincial governments under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

How to participate:

  • Keep cow-based records (cow ID – entry date – cull date and reason – calf data each year).
  • Have a DNA testing strategy.
  • Contact Livestock Gentec via phone or email.
  • Request a sample submission form and arrange for tissue sampling units (TSUs) and applicator.
  • Pay $20 per sample, with project funding paying for the other $32 per sample.
  • Receive all genomic breed composition, hybrid vigour score, molecular breeding values (MBVs), FPI, RHPI, easy-to-read reports and access to 100,000 SNP genotypes.
  • Work with Livestock Gentec to receive the most value from your data.

2. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the Canadian beef industry through the development and adoption of genomic tools

One of the aims of this project is to evaluate fecal near-infrared spectroscopy as a low-cost proxy for measuring methane production in commercial cattle. The project will also measure methane emissions, feed intake and feed efficiency while taking several fecal samples from about 1,900 beef cattle from various locations in Canada, though most will be in Alberta. In this project, we will develop a DNA-based multitrait selection index for cow-calf producers to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their herd while improving their profitability. We will also develop a carbon offset protocol so that cow-calf producers are incentivized to implement best management practices, such as genomic selection for improved feed efficiency and reduced methane emissions, to reduce their herd-level GHG intensity of beef production. This project is funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council sustainable agriculture research initiative grant.

Jordan Roberts, M.Sc, project manager, University of Alberta; Tiago Valente, Ph.D., research associate, University of Alberta; and John Basarab, Ph.D., Livestock Gentec CEO, University of Alberta, contributed to this article.

References omitted but are available upon request by sending an email to the editor.

Click here to access a sample submission form.

Click here to learn more about Livestock Gentec's genomic tools.