Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T04:32:12.357Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Developing breeding objectives for australian beef cattle production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

R. W. Ponzoni  and
S. Newman
R. W. Ponzoni
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, GPO Box 1671, Adelaide 5001, Australia
S. Newman
Affiliation:
Biometry Section, Waite Agricultural Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond 5064, Australia
Get access

Abstract

A sequential procedure for the development of breeding objectives for beef cattle improvement is presented. The procedure is general, and could be used for other types of domestic livestock. The development proceeds in four phases: (1) specification of the breeding, production and marketing system; (2) identification of sources of income and expenses; (3) determination of biological traits influencing income and expense; (4) derivation of the economic value of each trait, based on discounted gene flow methods. As an example, a breeding objective is developed for a pure breeding herd from which male calves are marketed at 9 months of age and surplus heifers are sold at 15 months of age. Situations examined included: (1) the effect of discounting on the breeding objective (income and expense per year v. discounting at 0, 5 and 10%); (2) the effect of ignoring the economic value for food intake in the objective; (3) the effect of inclusion of yearling weight or the deletion of calving date from the selection index. In general, correlations between objectives for discounting and income and expense per year were greater than 0·95, whereas correlations between indices were greater than 0·85. Setting food costs equal to zero shifted emphasis from reproduction to growth traits, with a consequent increase in food intake. The addition of yearling weight to the index caused a small increase in the accuracy of the index, whereas the deletion of calving date had a large effect, halving the accuracy of the index. The practical implications of the results are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , August 1989 , pp. 35 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bird, P. J. W. N. and Mitchell, G. 1980. The choice of discount rate in animal breeding investment appraisal. Animal Breeding Abstracts 48: 499–505.Google Scholar
Bourdon, R. M. and Brinks, J. S. 1983. Calving date versus calving interval as a reproductive measure in beef cattle. Journal of Animal Science 57: 1412–1417.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Danell, Ö. 1978. Users' guide to DIGFE, a computer program for calculating discounted gene flow expressions. Report, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Uppsala, No. 29.Google Scholar
Davis, M. E., Rutledge, J. J., Cundiff, L. V., Gearheart, W. and Hauser, E. R. 1987. Life cycle efficiency of beef production. VII. Prediction of cow efficiency ratios for progeny weaned and slaughtered. Journal of Animal Science 64: 50–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickerson, G. E. 1970. Efficiency of animal production — molding the biological components. Journal of Animal Science 30: 849–859.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickerson, G. E. 1982. Principles in establishing breeding objectives in livestock. Proceedings of the World Congress on Sheep and Beef Cattle Breeding (ed. Barton, R. A. and Smith, W. C.), Vol. 1, pp. 9–22.Google Scholar
Foulley, J. L. and Oluvier, L. 1986. A note on criteria of coherence for the parameters used to construct a selection index. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics 103: 81–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geenty, K. G. and Rattray, P. V. 1987. The energy requirements of grazing sheep and cattle. In Livestock Feeding on Pasture, Occasional Publication, New Zealand Society of Animal Production, No. 10, pp. 39–53.Google Scholar
Harris, D. L. 1970. Breeding for efficiency in livestock production: defining the economic objectives. Journal of Animal Science 30: 860–865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, D. L., Stewart, T. S. and Arboleda, C. R. 1984. Animal breeding programs: a systematic approach to their design. USDA-ARS-Advances in Agricultural Technology AAT-NC-8. USDA-ARS, Peoria, II.Google Scholar
James, J. W. 1982a. Economic aspects of developing breeding objectives: general considerations. In Future Developments in the Genetic Improvement of Animals (ed. Barker, J. S. F., Hammond, K. and McClintock, A. E.), pp. 107–118. Academic Press, Sydney.Google Scholar
James, J. W. 1982b. Construction, uses and problems of multitrait selection indices. Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, Vol. 5, pp. 130–139. Editorial Garsi, Madrid.Google Scholar
James, J. W. 1986. Economic evaluation of breeding objectives in sheep and goats — General considerations. Proceedings of the 3rd World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (ed. Dickerson, G. E. and Johnson, R. K.), Vol. 9, pp. 470–478.Google Scholar
McClintock, A. E. and Cunningham, E. P. 1974. Selection in dual purpose cattle populations: defining the breeding objective. Animal Production 18: 237–247.Google Scholar
Meacham, N. S. and Notter, D. R. 1987. Heritability estimates for calving date in Simmental cattle. Journal of Animal Science 64: 701–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meissner, H. H., Hofmeyr, H. S., Van rensburg, W. J. J. and Pienaaz, J. P. 1983. Classification of livestock for realistic prediction of substitution values in terms of a biologically defined large stock unit. Technical Communication, Department of Agriculture, Republic of South Africa, No. 175.Google Scholar
Morris, C. A. 1981. Economic values of net reproduction and weight-for-age for use in genetic calculations applied to Australian beef cattle herds. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 21: 464–473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, J. B. 1979. Complete Diets for Cattle and Sheep. Farming Press Ltd, UK.Google Scholar
Ponzoni, R. W. 1986. A profit equation for the definition of the breeding objective of Australian merino sheep. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics 103: 342–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ponzoni, R. W. 1987. Woolplan - design and implications for the Merino industry. In Merino Improvement Programs in Australia (ed. McGuirk, B. J.), pp. 25–40. Australian Wool Corporation, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Ponzoni, R. W. 1988. The derivation of economic values combining income and expense in different ways: an example with Australian Merino sheep. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics 105: 143–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schinckel, A. P., Harris, D. L., Stewart, T. S. and Lofgren, D. L. 1986. Swine testing and genetic evaluation system for the purebred swine associations. Proceedings of the 3rd World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (ed. Dickerson, G. E. and Johnson, R. K.), Vol. 10, pp. 98–109.Google Scholar
Smith, C., James, J. W. and Brascamp, E. W. 1986. On the derivation of economic weights in livestock improvement. Animal Production 43: 545–551.Google Scholar
Stewart, T. S., Harris, D. L., Schinckel, A. P. and Lofgren, D. L. 1986. A bioeconomic objective for swine improvement. In Proceedings of the 3rd World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (ed. Dickerson, G. E., and Johnson, R. K.), Vol. 10, pp. 87–92.Google Scholar
Taylor, St C. S. 1985. Animal growth and development. Lecture notes, University of Göttingen, West Germany.Google Scholar