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Brahman breeders across Southern Africa now have access to BREEDPLAN EBVs that include genomic (DNA) information, following the release of the November 2023 Brahman BREEDPLAN analysis for Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. This significant enhancement uses a methodology known as Single-Step.

The introduction of Single-Step BREEDPLAN for the Brahman Cattle Breeders’ Society of Namibia, the Brahman Cattle Breeders’ Society of South Africa and Brahman breeders recording with the Zimbabwe Herd Book has required a considerable amount of research, testing and validation to ensure the genotypes are used as correctly and accurately as possible.

Dr Brad Crook, BREEDPLAN Manager Genetics Research and Development, explains. “Collaboration among the three Brahman societies has resulted in quite a well-structured reference population, where most genotyped animals are also well-recorded for traits of importance to the Brahman breed in Southern Africa. This includes feed efficiency, fertility and cow weight traits, all of which are becoming increasingly important in developing breeding programs for sustainable beef production. Brahman breeders can tap into this reference population by genotyping their own cattle and gaining greater accuracy on these important traits at earlier ages in the herd.”

What are the advantages of Single-Step BREEDPLAN?

There are advantages that come with genomics and the Single-Step BREEDPLAN model. When young animals are genotyped at an early stage in life, they can achieve higher levels of EBV accuracy earlier in life – especially for traits expressed later in life – than is possible with a conventional (non-genomics) BREEDPLAN model. This equates to greater accuracy of selection decisions, at an earlier stage in the growth of animals, for Brahman breeders across Southern Africa.

Furthermore, for breeders with small herds, accuracy levels are often limited by small contemporary group sizes even when pedigree and performance records are available. If calves are genotyped, however, they can accumulate additional information – and accuracy – via their relationship to the wider genotyped and performance recorded population.

Ultimately, the implementation of Single-Step BREEDPLAN for the Brahman breed across Southern Africa provides members of the Brahman Cattle Breeders’ Society of Namibia and the Brahman Cattle Breeders’ Society of South Africa, as well as Brahman breeders recording with the Zimbabwe Herd Book, with greater returns on their investment in the genotyping of seedstock cattle.

With large areas of Australia having received below average rainfall, the ABRI Extension Services Team felt it would be timely to remind beef breeders of the considerations when collecting performance information for BREEDPLAN during drought.

Beef producers are sometimes reluctant to submit performance data collected in drought conditions due to concerns that lighter weights will correspond to,lower EBVs. Thankfully, this is not the case. While it is true that the average performance of a group will likely be lower relative to the average performance of a group in a good year, there will still be variation in performance within each group. It is this variation in how each anmial has perfromed relative to the other similarly treated animals that is imppeortant to the BREEDPLAN analysis, amnd not the raw measurements.

However, there are a number of considerations that beef producers should be aware of.

• If early weaning, remember that BREEDPLAN can only analyse the 200 day weight of calves that are older than 80 days of age when the weight is recorded
• BREEDPLAN can analyse 200 day weights on each animal. Therefore, if early weaning it may be beneficial to weigh the calves at weaning and then take a later weight.
• Mature cow weights should be collected within two weeks of collecting the 200 day weights of their calves. If you delay 200 day weight recording, you should also delay the collection of mature cow weights.
• Only record ultrasound scan informaiton on animals that are in adequate condition especially when scanning for fat depth and IMF. Ideally, animals should have a minimum average rump fat depth of 4-5mm.
• Fertility performance information of cows running under drought conditions can be vaery vakuable information to the BREEDPLAN analysis, as drought generally places more pressure on female fertility than in a good season.

In addition, some beef producers may find that due to the constraints of drought, they are unable to continue with their normal performance recording schedule. If you are in this situation, you could consider the following options as interim measures.

1. Restricting your performance recording to a core of important traits (consider which traits are important to you and/or your clients breeding programs)
2. maintain full trait recording but limiting this to a single sex (e.g. bull calves)

If you choose to undertake either of these options, you should aim to return to your full performance recording program for the whole herd as soon as possible (i.e. once drought conditions ease)

Droughtmaster Australia has worked collaboratively with staff at the Animal Genetics & Breeding Unit (AGBU) and the Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) to incorporate genomic information into the calculation of Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) within Droughtmaster BREEDPLAN, using a method known as Single-Step. This major upgrade was implemented in the October 2023 Droughtmaster BREEDPLAN Evaluation.

What is Single-Step BREEDPLAN?

Single-Step BREEDPLAN uses analytical software developed by AGBU, a joint venture of NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) and the University of New England (UNE), funded by Meat and Livestock Australia Limited (MLA).

The Single-Step BREEDPLAN evaluation represents a new genetic analysis for the Droughtmaster breed, where pedigree, performance and genomic (SNP) information will be processed and analysed together “in a single step”.

The Single-Step method represents a major leap forward in how EBV and accuracy calculations are made by accounting for the true genomic relationships that exist among genotyped Droughtmaster animals and how these genotypes relate to performance records on Droughtmaster animals in the BREEDPLAN analysis. The inclusion of SNP genotypes in Single-Step BREEDPLAN is expected to contribute to changes in EBVs and accuracy that overall will improve the accuracy of prediction of EBVs and the selection decisions to be made.

Other Changes to the Droughtmaster Analysis

For the first time, a selection index has been released for Droughtmaster Australia. This is the Jap Ox selection index, released in conjunction with the October 2023 Droughtmaster BREEDPLAN analysis.

While BREEDPLAN EBVs provide cattle producers with a comprehensive range of information regarding the genetic merit of an animal, it can be difficult to identify the appropriate level of emphasis to be placed on each EBV to achieve maximum profitability. BreedObject selection indexes are tools that help in solving this dilemma.

The BreedObject software combines the BREEDPLAN EBVs for an animal with an economic weighting (based on costs of production and returns on outputs) to produce selection index values. As selection indexes balance the relative growth, carcase and fertility genetic merits of each animal, they can identify the animals that are most profitable for a particular production system. Thus, selection indexes enable cattle producers to make selection decisions that account for both the short-term profit generated by a sire through the sale of his progeny, and (where applicable) the longer-term profit generated by his daughters in a self-replacing cow herd.

The new Jap Ox selection index was developed by Droughtmaster Australia in conjunction with staff from BREEDPLAN. Further information about the new Jap Ox selection index is available from the Help Centre on the BREEDPLAN website here.

Summary

The October 2023 Droughtmaster BREEDPLAN analysis has included a major upgrade. Single-Step software has been introduced, meaning that genomic information, along with pedigree and performance data, will now be used in the calculation of BREEDPLAN EBVs for Droughtmaster Australia animals. Additionally, a new Jap Ox selection index has also been released for the Droughtmaster breed.

Congratulations to the following herds who have achieved a 5 star Completeness of Performance (COP) rating for 2023. This achievement indicates that these herds are recording a large amount of pedigree and performance data for the majority of their calving crop.

• Brahman: Blue Gum & Lookout
• Brangus: Triple B
• Charolais: Ascot; Belbourie Park & Kenmere
• Hereford: Days; Glentrevor; Mount Difficult & Wirruna
• Limousin: Garren Park
• Murray Grey: Mount Major
• South Devon: Ace & Alpha
• Speckle Park: Alinjarra; Blue Sky; Bowan Park; JAD; Minnamurra; Promised Land and Whiteline

Please note: COP ratings are updated annually for BREEDPLAN members of all Australian breed socities in the relevant July analyses. Not all breed societies publicly list the COP ratings of their members. We have only reported 5 star COP status for members of Australian breed societies that list these publicly.

ABRI are excited to introduce Nikhil (Nik) who brings with him a wealth of experience to drive the transformation of the breed registry software. Based in Sydney, Nik boasts a diverse background spanning investment banking, technology and entrepreneurship.  

In his most recent role as a Venture Architect at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Nik advised ASX200 corporates on launching and scaling new technology ventures, including the successful launch of two agritech software ventures. One of these ventures, based in ABRI’s hometown of Armidale, ignited his keen interest in the agricultural sector. 

Nik is thrilled to be managing the breed registry project and building a world-class platform for cattle breeders that is fit for purpose, scalable and meets the needs of our clients globally.

Please don’t hesitate to reach to Nik 0414 557 157 or nikhil.sreedhar@abri.une.edu.au

We are pleased to announce the availability of four new Microsoft Excel templates that can be used to submit Days to Calving (DTC) information to BREEDPLAN. It is expected that these templates will assist beef producers in the submission of DTC information to BREEDPLAN. For more details on how to record DTC information, please see the Recording Days to Calving Information tip sheet.

The four new templates are:

1. Submitting DTC Information – Natural & AI Joinings

2. Submitting DTC Information – DTC Disposal Codes

3. Submitting DTC Information – Preg Test Results

4. Submitting DTC Information – ET Programs

All templates can be downloaded via the Help Centre on the BREEDPLAN website. Short videos have also been developed for each template, and provide instructions on how to fill out each template.

The ABRI HerdMASTER team are excited to announce the launch of a new support portal for all HerdMASTER clients.  

The ABRI HerdMASTER support desk has updated the processes for contacting support to an online model. This ensures that our HerdMASTER clients receive timely response to their support tickets.  

• Tickets can be logged 24 hours per day/ 7 days per week 

• Visibility of all logged support tickets  
• Prioritising urgent support requests 
• Identification of reoccurring issues 
• Timely response to logged tickets 

Please use the following link to contact the HerdMASTER support team to submit a ticket: 

Login – Jira Service Management (atlassian.net)

The ABRI HerdMASTER support team is committed to providing exceptional support, so we are improving the way that we do things to help our clients get more out of HerdMASTER. 

The Arthur Rickards Scholarship is open to young people nominated by the ARCBA Breed Association members. The applications close on the 15th September 2023 and the successful candidate announced on the 25th October 2023.

FIFTY nine percent of Australian commercial cattle producers are now using BREEDPLAN EBVs in genetics decision-making, according to results from Meat & Livestock Australia’s latest Genetics Insight Survey.

A key outcome of the survey conducted by consultants Rob Sloane and Laura Walker (on behalf of MLA) was the dramatic growth in the use of BREEDPLAN EBV’s by commercial beef producers growing from 18% in 2016 to 59% in 2023. The stud sector also increased its use of genetic tools growing from 32% in 2016 to 56% this year.

Cattle producers tracked many measurements of genetic gains with the top three being fertility, temperament and calving ease, regardless of seedstock or commercial system.

Regardless of production type, cattle producers said that the best feature about BREEDPLAN is that it aids selection/decision making. Over the next ten years, the great majority of both seedstock and commercial producers consider reproduction/fertility to be the most important factor for their business, followed by cost of production/efficiency.

To read the full report please click HERE

ABRI Extension Services are a dedicated team available to provide technical support including BREEDPLAN workshops and herd consultations. Get in touch with the team today Extension Services