Page 8 - Hooked on Herefords June 2020

There were a variety of informative presentations at be entered against the income received for calves,
ROBERT PEACOCK - NZHA CHAIR OF TECHNICAL
Technical Update
the highly successful World Hereford Conference in finished cattle and cull cattle, including any premiums
Queenstown back in March. We encourage you to go to that might be available.
the NZHA website, and watch them. One presentation Due to many traits being linked by either a negative
in particular which is relevant to day to day breeding or positive correlation, prices for one thing might
is by Dr Robert Banks on accurate data recording. have an unexpected consequence on another trait.
The more data that is recorded on registered animals One reasonably obvious example is, if the cost of
the more accurate and reliable the Breeding Values feed is expensive then a high mature cow weight is
will be, but it is important that the data is recorded undesirable but if the price of beef is high this will partly
accurately. If the data is not recorded accurately then it be offset by a high carcass return as well as the fact
can do more harm than good. Have a look at Dr Banks that a high growth rate being required to finish stock
presentation to find out more. quickly will by default, result in bigger cows unless we
As you will be aware, the council has been working can find suitable curve benders. As a result, despite
on updating the Indexes. There are currently four the attempts to penalise high mature cow weight,
indexes which place a convenient dollar value on a it will still continue to climb. There are many less
bull by putting an economic weighting on his breeding obvious correlations that need to be considered when
values in accordance to the importance of each trait developing these indexes.
in a certain market. Over time these indexes need Although the council are getting close to finalising the
reviewing, firstly to make sure the markets that each new indexes, the planned release date is next summer
index is still relevant and secondly to update the costs to avoid any confusion around autumn or spring selling
and income of beef production. This is mot a simple seasons. It is important to remember that although
process. It is not a matter of a committee deciding some people use the indexes as a convenient ranking
how much emphasis to put on each BV. All the costs system, the individual breeding values are more
of beef production such as feed, labour, machinery, important in deciding if a bull or cow is suitable for a
the cost of a vet to help with a calving etc have to particular breeding objective.

SNP profiles and how it all works

PBB Genomic Update

As you know the PBB-Neogen team have been apply a few tricks that will save you a lot of typing. The
working hard to provide cost effective genomic testing form cannot be in a printed format and needs to be
solutions for New Zealand breeders. We have been submitted electronically. Make sure to check in with
doing this for a while now and we thought it would be the PBB or NZHA website to get the latest form.
a good idea to take this moment to answer some of Deciding what tests are good for you can depend
the regular questions we get asked. on your situation. In most cases, the Hereford PBB
A lot of people ask us what the difference is between bundle will have everything you need. But if you’re new
SNP and Microsatellite testing. In short, they are to this we encourage you to have a chat with Megan
different testing technologies. The advantage of SNP Ellett to see what works best for you. We often get
genomic tests is that they offer a greater accuracy asked if we can do individual tests such as a horn/poll
and generate a SNP profile which is used in a single- test and the answer is yes, we can. Megan will be able
step evaluation to produce EBV’s. Microsatellite tests to customise an order if needed.
cannot be used for single-step evaluations, but the Once we have the DNA samples and the order form
team at PBB can generate a new SNP profile from an sorted, PBB will submit this to the lab for testing. We
old hair sample that was used for Microsatellite testing normally expect the results to come back within 4-5
in most cases. weeks but with the new restrictions due to Covid-19
We prefer our breeders to take DNA samples using we are seeing some delays. It is interesting to note
wet TSU’s and there are a number of reasons why. Wet that each DNA sample will be stored safely for you at
TSU’s travel easily via the mail to the lab, are quicker the lab and that this sample can be re-tested 2-3 times
to process and work out cheaper for you, the breeder. should you need to in the future.
Once the samples are taken, the next step is to Once the testing has been completed, PBB will
complete the order form. The main purpose of the automatically load these results into BREEDPLAN for
order form is to match the DNA sample with the you. PBB will also complete the parent verification part
corresponding animal so it is important to get this of the process for you and if you have used overseas
right. We encourage you to contact Megan Ellett at sires, PBB can source the SNP profiles of those sires
PBB before you start on this. In some cases, we can to complete the parent verification.

8 NZ HEREFORD ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER