The interest in genotyping animals has increased in Ireland, with it having a number of benefits to farmers and the wider industry.
Speaking to Agriland, Kevin Downing from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) said that there is increased demand from farmers to genotype animals, but due to funding the numbers are currently limited.
“Everyone acknowledges the benefits of genotyping including farmers, industry, the Department [of Agriculture, Food and the Marine] – but where do we get the funding?” he said.
For a programme to work, all breeding stock would need to be genotyped and, according to Downing, funding of around €20 million would be needed annually to operate a national programme.
Genomics
Most dairy farmers are aware of genomic bulls that are seen in artificial insemination (AI) catalogues, but might not fully know what that means.
Genomics is the study of an animal’s DNA or ‘Genotype’ (usually a tissue or hair sample).
DNA is transmitted in chunks and genomic testing then identifies which DNA chunks have been passed from the parents to their offspring.
The genotype is studied to check parentage to confirm that the dam and sire recorded are correct.
The second thing that genomics then looks at is an animal’s traits – milk production, carcass weight etc. The genomic sample is essentially compared to the genomic samples of proven animals.
Animals that are superior on certain traits will be identified through their genotype sample before any performance data has been recorded.
When an animal is genotyped all these traits are studied. Genomics are then added to the phenotypic data (traditional data) and an index with more reliability is formed as a result.
Genotyping
Downing outlined a number of benefits that could be achieved by having the national herd genotyped, including stopping mistakes of misidentification of a dam or sire.
According to Downing, the error rate of sire identification is around 12% in herds that are genotyping, but he believes that this figure is higher within the national herd.
This means that these animals are going into the evaluation system with the wrong data, and their performance is possibly being attributed to the wrong sire.
There would also be an increase the reliability of economic breeding index (EBI) figures if the national herd was genotyped.
And, it could help in stopping cattle theft and the dumping of animals, due to all animals having the ability to be traced back to their dams.
It also means more accurate evaluations of calves, so if you are selling calves you can keep the highest EBI animals.
The genomic information combined with ancestry information provides an increase in the EBI reliability from a much younger age.
The increase in EBI reliability is key when identifying the most profitable heifers to keep as replacements.
Downing also touched on benefits to the national herd from an emissions point of view, which will help with the identification of the most efficient animals.
CBV
The commercial beef value (CBV) of calves can now be displayed on mart boards, but it will only be displayed for calves that have been genotyped.
The reason for this is to prevent the wrong sires being attributed to calves, which will be a big benefit to farmers buying calves.
For beef farmers buying calves it is important that they know the quality of the calves they are buying – but the only way this will happen is through a national programme.
This will allow beef farmers to know the quality of the calves they are buying and pay accordingly.