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How accurate are genomic enhanced evaluation results for young sires?

When genomic information and any remaining pedigree contributions are blended (providing a genomic-enhanced Parent Average), the resulting realized reliabilities average 50% across the traits predicted. This is more reliable than a traditional PA, but not nearly as high as the reliability that results from a progeny test (around 90%). Actual milking daughters remain the gold standard for predicting genetic merit for bulls and cows.

 

Will genomic information replace progeny testing?

Milking daughters are the true measure of a bull’s transmitting ability! Further, progeny test information determines genomic contributions, so progeny test data are required to continually update and improve the predictability of genomic information. Actual daughter data always are more reliable than pedigree predictions but genomic data will help us determine earlier which bulls to progeny test through the ABS Cornerstone program.

 

Is ABS genotyping all young bulls?

Yes, ABS has been testing bulls on farm before they come to ABS. Table A below is a quick example of a litter of 3 full brothers (A, B and C) each with his genomic-enhanced PAs (ge-PA) and traditional PAs. In this case, even though A has the highest PL (3.6) and B has the highest Milk (1395), the selection is C, for his combination of several traits.

 

 

How is ABS using genomic information in sire acquisition?

There are many factors that go into making a great bull: he must be genetically unique, he must be physically sound, he must meet specific health qualifications, and he must produce ample quantities of fertile semen. As shown in the example (Table A), when we have to choose between three full brothers, genomic enhanced evaluations can give us an early clue about who likely inherited the most promising gene combinations and is yet another tool to help ABS identify which bulls to progeny test.

 

Because we know that genomic information alone cannot accurately predict individual bulls, we must maximize our selection by using all of the tools in our toolbox. The toolbox also includes: traditional genetic evaluations, pedigree analysis, cow inspections, and most importantly, ‘good cow sense’.

 

Will ABS test fewer bulls per year?

The ABS Cornerstone progeny test program has been growing in recent years to meet our expanding global market demand. Our goal is to accurately identify and market the finest genetics in the industry. We expect that genomic enhanced evaluations will improve our success rate. However, we will continue to progeny test even more bulls in order to offer proven sires of the highest quality! Ultimately, the ABS Cornerstone progeny test program will continue to be needed in order to identify the new and unique combinations of genes that result in the next generation of elite ABS sires.