All cattle breeders will agree that selection indexes are the preferred way to simultaneously select for multiple traits that affect herd profitability.

Inbreeding results when two related animals, with a shared ancestor in their pedigree, mate. The degree of inbreeding, or homozygosity, is a measure of how closely related the ancestors were along the sire and dam lines.

There is now no denying that genomics has thoroughly transformed the dairy cattle industry. Since the first Canadian genomic evaluations were published in August 2009, the technology has been embraced by A.I. organizations and producers.