Dairy Crossbreds To Receive Genomic Evaluations in April

Dairy Crossbreds To Receive Genomic Evaluations in April

The Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding has announced that crossbred dairy cattle will, for the first time, receive genomic evaluations this month.

 

“These evaluations are based on a weighted combination of solutions estimated from the purebred populations,” say George Wiggans and Ezequiel Nicolazzi. Wiggans is a research geneticist with the United States Department of Agriculture; Nicolazzi is CDCB technical director.

 

The United States is the first country to use this approach to evaluate crossbred cattle. “Although these estimates for crossbreds are slightly less reliable than those for purebreds, they provide a means for all genotyped animals to receive the best possible estimate of their genetic value, irrespective of their breed composition,” say Wiggans and Nicolazzi.

 

Read more detail on how the evaluation are being done and weighted here.

Jim Dickrell
Tue, 04/09/2019 – 09:31

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Dairy Genetics
Dairy (General)

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Dairy Genetics
Dairy (General)

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Crossbred dairy calf.

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Farm Journal, Inc.
Source: Dairy Herd