For many cow/calf producers, spring means making ever-important breeding and mating decisions. By using the power of DNA, those decisions can be made with more confidence by learning inside information about both bulls’ and females’ genetic potential.
“Producers can use DNA technology this spring to help make more confident mating and breeding decisions that will help them achieve their goals faster,” says Dr. Kevin DeHaan, Technical Services Director, IGENITY®. “By knowing inside information about cattle from a comprehensive DNA profile, producers can help make progress in several areas of economic importance faster than ever before.”
Dr. DeHaan says sorting breeding groups based on DNA profiles can be done in a couple of ways. First, if cattle have comprehensive DNA profiles, they can be sorted to help improve an area of weakness. For example, if a herd sire is found to have a high score for heifer pregnancy rate, which would mean he has the potential to produce more fertile daughters, he could be mated to a group of females that didn’t score as well for this trait.
“By using this approach to sorting breeding groups, producers can help improve fertility or a variety of other traits in the next generation of calves,” Dr. DeHaan explains. “This way, producers can help improve the herd average for a particular trait or make progress in an area viewed as a weakness in the herd.”
Another way producers can use DNA profiles to help sort breeding groups is to mate bulls and females that both have high scores for a trait. By grouping cattle that have the genetic potential to produce cattle that excel in tenderness, for example, producers can help increase the frequency of positive genes in the herd.
“If producers group cattle together that have high scores for tenderness, they are helping to greatly increase their chances of producing a calf crop that will score high for tenderness as well,” Dr. DeHaan says. “This method can help to multiply the favorable genes that are associated with a trait.”
Dr. DeHaan notes that it is important to avoid single trait or gene selection. He says producers should use a comprehensive DNA profile combined with other data, such as visual appraisal and expected progeny differences, to help make well-informed decisions that advance genetics in multiple areas.
“Producers understand the pitfalls of selecting for one gene or trait only and ignoring all of the other factors that are important to cattle production,” he says. “Therefore, it is essential that producers use a comprehensive DNA profile that provides information about multiple traits of economic importance, which means several traits can be analyzed and monitored at the same time.”
Dr. DeHaan adds that spring is a convenient and strategic time to put the power of DNA to work in any herd or operation.
“The breeding and mating decisions that seedstock and cow/calf producers make this spring could affect their short- and long-term profitability,” he says. “That is why it is essential that producers make these important decisions with as much information as possible about both bulls and females to help make genetic progress faster than ever before.