Yamburgan Shorthorns deal with commercial cattle breeding
Yamburgan Shorthorns , a unit of Manchee Agriculture, breed cattle with the traits required by the commercial beef industry. The commercial traits include birth weight, foraging ability and natural thickness of flesh. The breeding programme of the stud enables the cattle to breed consistently.
Yamburgan Shorthorns breeding programme has included Genestar test and Breedplan in their selection criteria. The Genestar Marbling is a DNA diagnostic test and is used for finding the major gene related to marbling. The Genestar test has helped Yamburgan Shorthorns to choose the cattle that carry one or two copies of the genes. Marbling is the first gene marker for the production trait in the cattle.
Breedplan has helped Yamburgan Shorthorns to evaluate the genes of the cattle in their stud. Breedplan calculates the estimated breeding values of the cattle for a range of traits that include weight, fertility and carcass. Birth weight, scrotal size, calving ease, carcass weight, fat thickness and eye muscle area are calculated using the Breedplan. The calculation of the EBV values includes the performance of the individual cattle, the performance of known relatives and the relationship between different traits. Breedplan is a genetic evaluation model that combines all traits in one analysis.
11-Sep-2008