Breeding herds with an increasing proportion of polled animals is a topical subject in the Australian beef industry.

Producer and broader community concerns surrounding dehorning mean that actively selecting for polledness is an attractive option.

However balancing selection for polledness with other traits and maintaining genetic diversity within a herd is challenging. Therefore, it is essential that the implications of integrating polledness into an existing breeding program be considered (as accurately as possible), and as part of designing and implementing a breeding program.

In a collaboration between MLA, the Australian Agricultural Co and the University of Queensland, this project has created an accurate ‘digital twin’ of AA Co’s Wagyu seedstock breeding program.

This ‘twin’ allows for the optimisation of the breeding program to find the most effective pathway to a polled herd. The key part of the digital twin work is the use of the Genomic Simulation software which uses real genotypes to simulate offspring. This allows realistic breeding values and inbreeding coefficients to be calculated for multiple generations.

The project has sought to answer questions such as:

• What is the optimal blend of natural service, artificial insemination and embryo transfer in a breeding program?
• How much selection pressure can be applied for polledness without compromising genetic gain for other traits?

In this BeefConnect webinar, Join Matt Kelly (AA Co principal scientist) and James Copley (AA Co quantitative geneticist) who will discuss:

• Breeding for polls in practice and its challenges:
• Managing animal performance and polledness.
• Managing genetic diversity and polledness.
• Impact of scurs.

The pair will also discuss how to use the digital twin model to drive better decision-making:

• Predicting the rate of genetic gain for polledness and other traits
• Examining the level of inbreeding under different selection scenarios
• Industry applications of the digital twin

The webinar will be held on Wednesday, 10 July from 12:30pm AEST.

Click here to register

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

 

The webinar is part of the Beef Connect series, a collaboration between FutureBeef and Beef Central.