Data recording and profitability in livestock breeding: Lessons from poultry breeding

The goal of any livestock breeding programme is to earn a return on investment and help their clients be more profitable. Success depends on efficiency of the breeding programme and its ability to supply genetically superior stock on a continuous basis to customers. To make this work availability of accurate information for making timely breeding decisions is key. Data collection and analysis is thus central to the profitability of commercial livestock breeding programmes. The difference between poultry and cattle breeding is primarily due to the structure of the programmes as occasioned by the size and unit value of the animals, reproductive rate, generation interval and the socio-political role of the industry in the (inter)national economy. Genetic improvement in poultry is undertaken at the apex of the breeding pyramid with a one way gene flow from the nucleus to the commercial producer. The commercial producer is entwined in the genetic improvement process in cattle breeding. Data capture in poultry breeding is in-house and sophisticated because of the need for a broad breeding objective. It is a primary objective for the rearing of animals in the genetically diverse breeding nucleus. The breeding programme is designed to be efficient taking account of the need for genetic improvement, health and welfare of stock. The social responsibility of ensuring safe supply of healthy stock gives bio-security precedence over genetic improvement. Multiple production environments are simulated for data capture to overcome the risk of genotype by environmental interaction. This makes poultry breeding programmes more expensive to run compared with cattle breeding programmes where performance information is recorded in the commercial production environment. Turning data into information requires huge investment in information technology, infrastructure and personnel. Shared use of resources reduces unit cost and could make cattle breeding organisations more resilient than limited liability companies. For example, the gains possible from incorporating genomic information in livestock improvement are immense. But the level of investment required is huge because it is an extension rather than a replacement for existing infrastructure. In poultry breeding, this huge cost has to be borne by individual companies while the burden can be shared in cattle breeding.