According to Japie van der Westhuizen, general manager at the SA Stud Book and Animal Improvement Association, the inclusion of genomic profiles in the prediction of genetic merit of selection candidates, even at a very young age, reduces the risk of best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) breeding value predictions changing radically, as more information becomes available.
“When genomic information is included, the accuracies of BLUP breeding values are increased. Genomic selection benefits, especially those traits that cannot be measured or recorded on the animal itself, such as milk (maternal), cow mature weight, and heifer and cow fertility for bull calves. Traits that will also benefit include eye muscle area, marbling and feed efficiency, usually only measured on bull calves.”
The Disco Bonsmara stud now also boasts their own testing facility where the growth rate and feed intake of young bull calves will be measured and recorded. The combination of feed efficiency and real-time ultrasound scanning of young bulls, their genomic information and those of the rest of the calf crop, means that these bulls’ genomic relationship with their half-sib sisters will increase selection certainty even more when selecting for these traits.
According to Venter, the recently completed Phase C-centre is now fully operational. “Our Bonsmara stud is the first in the country to undergo genomic testing.” Venter strives towards selling bulls with an outstanding feed conversation ratio (FCR), thus assuring producers of financial benefits. “Our motto is ‘to measure is to know’, and we make decisions based on numbers. Anyone who is interested can visit our website on Venter Boerdery for more information.”
Van der Westhuizen elaborates: “The second major advantage of knowing the genomic information of parents and their progeny, is the precision of confirming and even determining true parentage. SA Stud Book’s genomic service uses more than 35,000 base pairs on the chromosomes of each animal to establish the true relationships between animals. The major difference regarding current parentage conformation, based on an ‘exclusion principle’ (which means the ‘impossibility’ of a possible parent), is that genomic parentage determination is an ‘inclusion principle’, thus the confirmation of a specific parent.”
SA Stud Book has also adapted genetic and other reports to clearly indicate that genomic profiles were used in the BLUP breeding value predictions and that parentages were confirmed using the information. The genomic BLUP breeding values and other advantages that genomics offer stud breeders and buyers of breeding stock, have taken the world by storm. South Africa is now able to share in these advantages.
The above is an example of two animals in Disco Bonsmara’s genetic report. Both parents could be verified for the first animal. Only one animal could be verified for the second animal, but the sire of the second animal was not genomically tested, hence verification wasn’t possible.
Animals with known genomic profiles used in the genetic merit predictions are indicated by the “GenoTyped” logo in all the Logix reports. – Carin Venter, Veeplaas
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