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ILROnline FAQs

Why are ABRI’s ILR systems focusing on standardisation?

  • software consistency – with ABRI’s 180+ breed society clients, all with largely similar requirements, standard software solutions are both logical and necessary
  • operational efficiency – standard procedures and software benefit you, ABRI, and your 3rd party service providers.  Standard data exchange protocols are highly favoured by 3rd party service providers eg. DNA laboratories, accounting systems like MYOB, on-farm PC systems, etc.
  • software support expertise – ABRI can optimise its ability to resource and support a single suite of software
  • software scrutiny – given the system is scrutinised by multiple breed society clients, system bugs will be more quickly located and all participating societies will be the beneficiaries of the corrections
  • system standard feature evolution – all participating societies will be the beneficiaries of the newly developed standard features
  • relative cost stability – the addition of new standard features are added without specific cost
  • overall cost efficiencies and minimisation

What is ILROnline?

  • ILROnline is a new service for your membership that allows them to interact, enquire, add and maintain their own data, via secure login, directly on the breed society’s database
  • ILROnline also allows public enquiry access, without login, also directly on the breed society’s database, using powerful new search tools
  • ILROnline is not a direct replacement for ILR2 or Internet Solutions, it is rather a newly engineered, modern, feature rich and evolving web based front end to the breed society’s database.
  • ILROnline is a standardised system that looks to capitalise on similarities of our client’s requirements whilst still allowing for their differences
  • ILROnline is the focus of ABRI’s new software developments.
  • Whilst ILR2 is still our foundational software product, features within ILR2 are being aggressively replaced by new features within ILROnline.

What does ILROnline do?

  • Member Services – ILROnline is designed for use by breed society members, and staff, for animal enquiry, registration, ownership transfer, trait entry, disposal and update, in real-time, directly on the breed society’s database. Members can also update their contact details, make payments to the breed society, and view their work-orders through a dedicated and secure web portal. This is the member services face of ILROnline.
  • Public Services – ABRI has also recently developed, and are in the process of rolling out, the public services face of ILROnline. Like Internet Solutions its predessor, this allows the public to access animal and member search facilities to enquire across the breed society’s database, review sale catalogues, access the mating predictor etc

What are the benefits of ILROnline?

  • ILROnline is a modern web-based product.
  • ILROnline opens up a new and transparent way for your members to interact with their data
  • ILROnline allows you to benefit from our ongoing software developments
  • ILROnline adds value to the services that you provide to your membership
  • ILROnline is a web application that can be securely accessed to perform breed society registry actions, from any sized device, from any network, without an installation on your device (unlike ILR2).
  • ILROnline is an evolving product. Whilst the fees to use it are relatively stable, additional standard functionality is being constantly added to it.
  • ILROnline contains standard features that are easier and more efficient to maintain which ultimately minimises costs.
  • ILROnline will supersede our legacy Internet Solutions system.
  • Whilst Internet Solutions operates against a subset copy of the breed society’s database, ILROnline allows direct access to the breed society’s database.
  • Whilst members can login to Internet Solutions and enter their new registrations, this ‘entry’ by them doesn’t actually get them on the breed society’s database. Rather, it just creates applications that breed society staff still have to enter into their database.  
  • ILROnline facilitates a reduced reliance on breed society staff for member support, data entry, data maintenance, reporting etc because members can do this themselves.
  • Having members largely looking after the entry and maintenance of their own data frees breed society staff to work on other things (eg. DNA which is a new big consumer of time, promotion, marketing, etc)   
  • ILROnline facilitates reduced paperwork handling as members can download society documents, such as Certificates and Invoices, themselves
  • ILROnline facilitates transparency of member’s work orders and transactions. This results in less calls to the breed society staff.
  • ILROnline’s requirement to host the breed society database, the ILR2 system, and the ILROnline application on the cloud allows ABRI to remotely support many of the breed society’s IT administration requirements compared to the society maintaining an on-premise server themselves .
  • The overall relative efficiency of the ILROnline architecture ultimately benefits us all

If you haven’t already, please review the ILROnline material available on our YouTube channel.

If you want to start your conversation about ILROnline, or have any questions, please contact Marcus O’Sullivan via the ILR Support Portal.

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To EBV or not EBV, that is the question…

Incremental changes for a profitable future


Watching the Olympics is inspiring and amazing.

Who could not be inspired and enthralled with the intense competition amongst these elite sportsmen and women?

The swimming is a particular favourite and the contrast between different events adds to the intrigue.

The 50m splash and dash, where the swimmers go for it in one spectacular lap is a vastly different event to the 1500m. The finalists are all great swimmers but over 30 laps the best performers build a lead steadily-lap after lap. They do this through disciplined skills execution and strategy, making incremental gains. Katie Ledecky builds this to a 20m lead and secures the gold medal.

Cattle breeding is much more a 1500m than a 50m event.

Copley Pastoral’s experience reflects this as we have utilized CBV genetics and worked to develop our own functional, analysed genetics.

Building over time with disciplined herd management, including a ‘No Freeloader’ breeder approach, data informed decision making and persistence towards a ‘Herd that Works’.

We work to make incremental genetic gains each year, regardless of seasonal conditions.

I came into the cattle industry 30 years ago when I married Tom from an Oncology Nursing background-where evidence formed the basis of our practice.

It seemed logical that our cattle business had a system, recorded and collected data that we used to inform our decisions and enable us to analyse and confirm our progress.

My role in our business became largely data management, in recording all maternal data from joining to progeny and then following the progress of the next generation. Utilising notebooks, excel, herd recording software and Google Docs ensures we keep us and our herd accountable. Latterly we have worked to increase accuracy through genomic analysis of EBVs and parental verification.

Data is the basis for a steady, consistent, disciplined approach.

Data enables us to avoid being distracted by shiny, seemingly easy solutions to complex problems.

The 1500m, rather than a 50m approach.

‘To EBV or not EBV’….that is the question…for some!

Hamlet faced a philosophical dilemma but using EBVs to select sires is not philosophical-it is just good science.

EBVs are not a cult, a choice between EBVs or ‘Cattleman’s Instinct’ or a mystical belief system.

EBV hesitancy is a frustration and comes at a cost to the cattle industry, when so much of the industry requires the utilisation of good science to make complex decisions about our expensive capital investments.

The value and power of EBVs is undeniable as we can identify those leaders and performers which can form the basis of real genetic progress and those animals that, despite how they look, just won’t.

EBVs can be daunting but fertility is king for the Northern Beef Industry the further north we go.

$ Indices for the Brahman Breed are both dominated by weaning rate and are therefore useful and simple selection tools. EBV informed sire selection requires consistent, persistent management of the breeder herd to make incremental gain through functional, analysed genetics. 

Followers of ‘Yellowstone’ will be familiar with the patriarch of the Dutton family cattle business-John Dutton played by Kevin Costner. In an endearing scene with his grandson Dutton lists off all the difficulties in ranching, which he can’t control, including weather, prices and public perception.

The grandson asks, ’if it is so hard-why do it?’

John Dutton replies ‘Because it’s one hell of a life…’

Now, we know that ‘Yellowstone’ has lots of problems and hasn’t been profitable for years. 

But a profitable business can afford you the privilege of living that great life and functional analysed genetics can help us make incremental gains for a profitable future for our family businesses.

This article has been shared with permission from Bush AgriBusiness. The full article can be found here.

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AAABG Conference

ABRI will be participating in the upcoming Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics (AAABG) Conference, being held on 2 – 4 November, 2021. 

Our research team will be presenting a paper named “Genome Wide Association of Birth and Weaning Weights in Australian Taurine Beef Cattle”. This research has been conducted by Dr Brad Crook and Dr Shalanee Weerasinghe of ABRI, and, Nasir Moghadder from Animal Science at the University of New England (UNE).

The research paper will be made available on the AAABG website at the conclusion of the conference. 

Representatives from SBTS & TBTS will also be participating in the conference.

To find out more about the conference, visit the AAABG website.  

Image credit: AAABG website

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Keith Entwistle UNE Scholarship recipients

The Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) are proud to announce the 2021 recipients of the Keith Entwistle AM scholarship, awarded to two students studying at the University of New England.

This scholarship has been awarded by ABRI in the name of Keith Entwistle AM, who was a significant supporter of Australian’s beef industry through the reproductive physiology of tropical beef cattle and veterinary education.
 

Congratulations to Billie Standfield and Holly Miller, who are this years recipients!

To find out more visit: https://www.une.edu.au/…/keith-entwistle-une-scholarship

Image credit: University of New England 

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Changes to the Selection Index Documentation

In recent months, the SBTS & TBTS extension teams, in conjunction with BREEDPLAN staff, have reviewed the BREEDPLAN tip sheets relating to selection indexes.
 
Two new general selection index tip sheets are now available in the Help Centre on the BREEDPLAN website. These are:
 

  1. An Introduction to Selection Indexes

This tip sheet introduces BreedObject selection indexes, outlines what selection indexes are available, and explains how to interpret selection indexes. It also provides a brief guide to using selection indexes in animal selection.
 

  1. A BREEDPLAN Guide to Animal Selection

This tip sheet provides both seedstock and commercial beef producers with a detailed best practice guide to using BREEEDPLAN information, alongside other selection tools, for animal selection. Advice on pre-sale preparation for bull buyers is also provided. 

In addition to reviewing the general selection index tip sheets, the team have also reviewed the breed specific selection index tip sheets. The previous ‘Interpreting Breed Selection Indexes’ tip sheet has been replaced with two new breed specific selection index tip sheets. These are now available in the Help Centre on the BREEDPLAN website, and are:
 

  1. Using Breed Selection Indexes

This tip sheet has been designed to provide your members, and their commercial clients, with a reference guide to help identify the selection index of most relevance to their production system(s). This tip sheet provides a brief guide to using the available breed society selection indexes in animal selection. An overview of each available breed society selection index is also provided (in dot point format for ease of comparison).
 

  1. Breed Selection Indexes: Technical Specifications

This tip sheet has been designed for those producers who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the technical specifications for each of the available selection indexes. This tip sheet provides an overview of the BreedObject selection index development process. The  blue profit driver graph, the red EBV weightings graph and the green predicted response graph for each selection index, as were available in the previous ‘Interpreting Breed Selection Index’ tip sheets.

With the release of these new BREEDPLAN tip sheets, it is recommended that you identify any links on your breed society website that need to be redirected. In addition, it is recommended that you link directly to the BREEDPLAN tip sheet, rather than host a local copy on your own server. This will ensure that any future updates to the tip sheets are automatically captured.
 
Should you have any questions, comments or feedback on the new BREEDPLAN tip sheets, please contact us and we will put you in touch with the relevant SBTS or TBTS Technical Officer, or staff at BREEDPLAN.

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International Evaluations

ABRI continues to develop the infrastructure for two international evaluations, one for the Hereford breed and the other for the Brahman breed.

The Hereford evaluation currently combines pedigree and performance data from Australia, NZ, the UK, Namibia, Canada, Uruguay, and Argentina. The first round of test results was presented at the World Hereford Congress in 2020. 

Given ABRI’s relationship with ICAR and Interbeef’s technical and working groups, the opportunity has now arisen for Hereford populations throughout Europe to contribute data to the International Hereford evaluation. This continues to be a priority R&D project undertaken by ABRI.

In relation to the Brahman breed, data from Australia, the USA, South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe has also been combined for an International Brahman evaluation. Discussions are currently underway as to how best to report sire and bull EBVs using ABRI’s online services.

It is encouraging to see that ABRI continues to provide products and services that have an international reach and demand. Interested to know more? Chat to our friendly team today! 

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BREEDPLAN’s Global Expansion

ABRI is now seeing a significant volume of genotyping coming through from our European and UK clients, in levels that exceed that of many of our middle tier domestic breeds. This represents an exciting time for ABRI, as potential opportunities throughout Europe arise.

Currently we are working with the National Association of Hungarian Charolais Cattle Breeders and the South Devon Herd Book Society in the UK to transition each to a Single-Step BREEDPLAN evaluation. Discussions are also underway with clients in South America and Southern Africa to collect and store genomic data for inclusion in their respective BREEDPLAN evaluations.

We continue to see growing interest for ABRI’s services, including BREEDPLAN genetic evaluations among beef breed associations throughout Europe. ABRI is working with representatives of Aberdeen Angus populations to receive data extracts for review, test BREEDPLAN evaluations, and provide the preliminary distribution of results using electronic and online options.

ABRI technical staff continue to engage with breed association boards and technical committees representing our international clients. We welcome the opportunity to provide a ‘try-before-you-buy’ approach to BREEDPLAN and ABRI services. Please get in touch if you’d like to find out more. 

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An Update on ILROnline

The ILR Support Team has been busy since their last update!
 
They have been supporting ILR2, transitioning more clients to the cloud, rolling out and adding yet more functionality to ILROnline, as well as rolling out our standardised DNA Module software.
 
They have also scheduled multiple new orders for ILROnline which will take them to 29 systems from 4 species across 5 countries by the end of the year!
 
New Functionality in ILROnline:
 
Associations subscribe to the standardised ILROnline system which is then configured and rolled out for that association.

Whilst the costs to your association remain relatively constant, the system itself is continually being developed and improved.

This means that you benefit from an evolving and constantly improving system without having to specifically pay for the new features.
 
The team are currently in the process of rolling out the following new ILROnline features:

  • ILROnline ‘Public Services’ – Designed to replace Internet Solutions with a configurable and superior web enquiry system for Animal and Member searching, Sale Catalogues and Mating Predictor.
  • DNA Laboratory Requests – Allowing members to order tests from genomic laboratories. Integrates seamlessly with the ILR2 DNA Module software.
  • Bulk Disposal processing – Allowing members to lookup multiple owned-animals and then update their Animal Status in bulk for easy inventory management.

  And don’t forget these important facts:

  • ILROnline will be scheduled and implemented for our breed association clients on a first-in, first-served, basis.
  • An essential prerequisite for ILROnline will be that your ILR2 systems have been transitioned to ABRI’s cloud server.
  • We will be concentrating on delivering all new ILR breed registry feature requests within ILROnline.
  • We will be concentrating on delivering all new DNA feature requests within the DNA Module software.
  • We will be progressively standardising our ILR software to maximise software development and support efficiencies, and to minimise breed association costs.
  • Our highly successful Internet Solutions web system will be progressively superseded by ILROnline’s superior functionality.

And don’t forget these available standard ILR software solutions:

  • ILROnline – ILROnline is designed to be a standardised suite of software. It will deliver a greater depth of functionality and services for the breed associations members and will be inclusive of an extensive set of association configurable parameters.
  • DNA Module – there is a consistency among all our breed association clients regarding their DNA requirements. Our ILR ‘DNA Module’ software recognises this consistency and provides a single suite of standard software to meet all DNA requirements.
  • ILR Transaction Extracts – we now have standard software that extracts debtor transactions from our ILR systems to our breed association client’s preferred accounting software package (eg. MYOB, Xero).

If you haven’t already, please review the ILROnline material available on our YouTube channel.

If you want to start your conversation about ILROnline, or have any questions, please contact the ILR Support Team.

SBTS news

Second Round of ‘Recording for BREEDPLAN’ Short Videos Released

The Southern Beef Technology Services (SBTS) and Tropical Beef Technology Services (TBTS) projects are pleased to announce the release today of seven short videos for the ‘Recording for BREEDPLAN’ video series. Ranging from three to six minutes in length, each video gives a short overview of the methods and considerations when recording performance information for BREEDPLAN traits. Today’s videos compliment the 12 ‘Recording for BREEDPLAN’ videos that were released in August 2020.

The seven videos released today are:

  1. Recording Mature Cow Weights
  2. Recording Docility Scores
  3. Recording Flight Time
  4. Recording Buffalo Fly Lesion Scores
  5. Recording Coat Scores
  6. Recording Tick Scores
  7. Recording Structural Soundness Information

SBTS Technical Officer, Catriona Millen, said that while there are a number of written resources on recording performance data for BREEDPLAN (e.g. the BREEDPLAN Tip Sheets), some people prefer to receive information via visual or audio means. “In developing the ‘Recording for BREEDPLAN’ videos, we wanted to provide a visual learning tool that will complement the existing written documentation”.

It is also anticipated that the ‘Recording for BREEDPLAN’ short videos will be of use to beef producers who wish to quickly refresh their knowledge around recording a particular trait. “Breeders may watch the relevant video before heading out to the yards to collect that trait,” she said.

All ‘Recording for BREEDPLAN’ short videos are available via:

  • The searchable Help Centre on the BREEDPLAN website, and,
  • A dedicated playlist on the SBTS & TBTS YouTube channel.

The SBTS & TBTS team wish to thank the following studs who provided photos and video footage for use in the ‘Recording for BREEDPLAN’ video series: Glendale Gelbvieh and Red Angus Stud, Gyranda Santa Gertrudis Stud, Seifert Belmont Reds, Vix Devons and Wirruna Poll Herefords.