Improvement of beef cattle through breeding methods

Breeding and Genetics: Beef Cattle

The association of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of calpain 1 (CAPN1) gene with shear force of 2.54 cm steaks from M. longissimus dorsi from Gannan yaks (Bos grunniens, n = 181) was studied. The experimental design was a repeated measures with the main unit in a completely randomized design with a factorial arrangement of treatments (age at harvest x SNP) and the repeated subunit was a...

Breeding and Genetics: Beef Cattle

Bovine infectious keratoconjunctivitis (BIK, pinkeye) is an economically important illness affecting growth of calves. The primary objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for BIK in beef calves prior to weaning. Health records of 47,880 calves born at the Meat Animal Research Center, Clay Center, NE from 1983 through 2001 were evaluated. Cows and calves were monitored daily f...

Beef Cattle Improvement

Breeding objectives for beef cattle in Ireland

Breeding objectives for beef cattle in Ireland were derived and used to define selection sub-indexes. The intention of the sub-indexes was to simplify selection decisions by commercial bull and semen buyers for situations where all of the resulting progeny are slaughtered, or when some female progeny are kept as replacement breeding cows. Separate sets of economic values for calving ease and ge...

Beef Cattle Breeding Programmes : Progress and Prospects

INTRODUCTION Beef breeding programmes have developed significantly in the last 24 years since the 1 WCGALP. Breeding programs as defined here include the definition of breeding objectives, recording and genetic evaluation programs to develop selection criteria and developments in selection and mating technology to optimize genetic progress for the objective. Available today are tools for the im...