Over the Fence with

GW OVER THE FENCE GW Over the Fence with the AGA

By Will Fiske

Balancing maternal and carcass traits provides profitable opportunities.

As the Continental breed nationally recognized for its maternal superiority, Gelbvieh consistently checks the box for outstanding females. Cattle that excel in traits such as fertility and stayability are highly important to the cow-calf producer. The limited resources and changing infrastructure of the beef industry has illustrated the economic significance of maternal genetics more than ever. However, commercial cattle producers expect genetics that will generate profit both at the ranch and on the rail.

Expectations of capturing additional profit premiums from carcass merit is now a conversation that reaches commercial producers who don’t retain ownership or feed their calves to finish weights. Marketing channels have allowed commercial producers to receive price premiums based on cattle being genetically verified for carcass potential. The transparency of carcass merit with the transfer of information across all sectors of the industry has led to seedstock breeders progressively balancing terminal and maternal traits. The American Gelbvieh Association’s (AGA) Carcass Data Collection Project is a key step to ensuring Gelbvieh and Balancer® breeders have access to the powerful genetic selection tools.

The AGA is commitment to the commercial producer and meeting modern industry demands has led to the launch of the Carcass Data Collection Project.

The Carcass Data Collection Project is intended for AGA members and their customers who have access to carcass harvest data. This project is a breed improvement directive, designed to encourage more opportunities to submit high quality carcass data. The AGA and American Gelbvieh Foundation’s financial support of covering DNA testing costs for cattle participating in the project provides commercial cattlemen the ability to sire-verify Gelbvieh and Balancer-influenced animals of multi-sire pastures and allows the AGA to pair genotypes with valuable carcass harvest data.

Why submit carcass harvest data?

The AGA aims to work with members and their customers to develop a larger carcass database with vital genetic information. An investment to increase the future predicting power of genomic panels, improve carcass expected progeny difference (EPD) accuracies, enhance economic indexes, and equip breeders with powerful genetic improvement tools.

Carcass harvest data versus ultrasound scan data?

As ultrasound scans and carcass harvest data are both used in the calculation of carcass EPDs, carcass harvest data remains the golden standard. Even though carcass traits are highly heritable, the prediction power of carcass traits is often limited by the number of collected/submitted carcass harvest records. Genomics and ultrasound records improve the accuracy of unproven animals, but even combined cannot provide high accuracy carcass EPDs without actual carcass records on progeny.

Data is knowledge.

Knowledge provides us with the power to effectively decide the direction of our breeding program. Our ability to identify matings that align with our breeding objective is often rationalized around three types of fundamental principles. Traditional principles- What worked in the past, Conventional principles- What is working in the present, and Innovative principles- What could work in the future. Without data we’re unable to manage inputs or measure outputs. Without data we have no knowledge.

How to get involved?

If you or a commercial customer retains ownership and receives individual carcass data on Gelbvieh-influenced cattle that meet the minimum requirements of the project, you are encouraged to participate! Calves must be sired by registered Gelbvieh or Balancer bulls, dams must be identifiable by age and breed composition, calves must have an EID tag and DNA collected via a TSU, and participants must have access to harvest data. Contact the AGA office at 303-465-2333 or visit Gelbvieh.org to verify if your cattle meet the full list of minimum requirements of the project.

Together the AGA and its members will grow demand for the Gelbvieh and Balancer cattle by delivering the industry with the genetics that are smart, reliable, and profitable from the ranch to the rail. D