Keeping the first things first

What should the driving purpose be of a modern beef breed association? Simple. To empower serious, profit-focused, data-driven commercial producers with the facts to make the appropriate genetic decisions for their herd. This strengthens that herd. But, far more importantly, strengthens that family’s position and longevity in the beef business and within their community. Credible data empowering human flourishing.

So then, what should be the core competency of a modern beef breed association? Again, simple. Provide the most robust, scientifically credible, multi-breed, readily interpretable genetic tools available. An association’s job is to make EPDs and indices that are meaningful, powerful and relatable across breeds. Period. If anything gets in the way of that, then the association is headed in an unproductive direction.

Are there other purposes and competencies of an association? Certainly, but they are more complementary and should never take precedence over the first things.

Keeping the first things first. This is the focus of International Genetic Solutions.

International Genetic Solutions (IGS), a genetic service provider, doesn’t exist to serve individual breed associations but the commercial beef business at large. The industry, and its people, are our higher calling. When considering a change or project, we ask, “Will this change better serve the commercial beef producers?” If so, we are all in. If it doesn’t, then it’s a “NO” from IGS. The cow-calf operators who thumb through catalogs looking for their next bulls to improve certain traits can make faster improvements when the prediction of the genetics of that trait is more accurate. And that’s where IGS thrives through the IGS Multi-Breed Genetic Evaluation. The goal at IGS is to predict EPDs as accurately as possible as early as possible in an animal’s life. IGS leverages science and collaboration to ensure the commercial cattle industry has the best scientific predictions to help make profitable and sustainable decisions.

The IGS evaluation has a database with over 21 million head of cattle and almost 500,000 genotypes. IGS serves populations across the globe. Uniquely, the IGS population also includes savvy cow-calf operators who have finally realized that they, too, can incorporate EPD and indices into their decision making. Instead of keeping each of the data sources or breed associations separate, all the data goes into one genetic evaluation. Using one central data hub means relatives from animals in a separate database also enter into the genetic evaluation adding information to all the animals’ genetic predictions.

Figure 1 shows the collective animal records in IGS. The lines at the bottom of the graph show the number of animal records from each association based on year of birth. The take-home message is that even the larger data sources are dwarfed by the combined total number of animals in IGS.

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Pooling all this information is beneficial because the data sources have related animals. How connected are these databases? Very. There are four bulls who show up in 17 of the 19 data sources in IGS and nearly one-third of the animals (6.5 million) in the IGS evaluation have a half-sibling in another database (see Table 1). If we look at sires in one breed association and how many progenies they would have just from the single association compared to how many progenies are added by being in the IGS collective, we see up to a 33-fold increase for progeny on these bulls for some breed associations.

How is the evaluation able to accommodate this large amount of data and produce the EPDs that can be used by commercial cattlemen? One of the most important parts of the evaluation process is the ability to differentiate between performance that is due to additive genetic differences and performance that is due to other genetic factors such as hybrid vigor. This can be done because not only are there large amounts of purebred data but also a healthy representation of different crosses of breeds included in the evaluation. The data is also analyzed with some of the most advanced statistical techniques available. The model that is used in all IGS evaluations is known as a Super-Hybrid Marker Effects Model. One of the advantages of this model is the way it efficiently uses genomic data in a single-step evaluation. The approach is distinctly different from some other association or provider approaches. We focus on the genetic markers that are proven to have an impact. Then, we cull those non-informative markers. Again, this makes obvious sense but is not the norm amongst genetic evaluations. Validations prove this increases the accuracy of prediction.

One of the benefits of this approach of a single genetic evaluation for all IGS participants is that this allows for the EPDs to be comparable across associations. IGS-generated EPDs are directly comparable. There are currently 14 different traits that are evaluated and published as part of the IGS genetic evaluation. These traits include genetic predictions for Calving Ease, Growth, Stayability, Docility and Carcass traits. The focus of the predictions has been on economically relevant traits.

As we look to the future of IGS, there are many more projects to tackle. Currently, we are developing genetic evaluations for several traits including Mature Cow Weight, Dry Matter Intake and Heifer Fertility. In addition to this new trait development, the current EPD evaluations are routinely scrutinized by a large group of scientists to look for strategies to continue to increase the accuracy of prediction. IGS invests in research and development to increase the data flow into the evaluation and improve genetics for economically relevant traits.

So, does this describe your association or your genetic service provider? Are they keeping the first things first? If not, ask them why not. If you are not receiving multi-breed EPDs that are directly comparable across the different breeds and composites you use to maximize profit on your ranch, then ask why not. You write the checks. You are in the driver’s seat. Expect more. — American Simmental Association

Table 1. IGS Connectivity

The number of sires that have progeny in multiple databases. Four sires have progeny in 17 of the 19 databases, providing connection between these individual data sources. There are 37,795 sires with progeny in more than one database, resulting in 6.49 million cattle with a half sibling in another database.