New approaches to genetic evaluation of beef cattle

Abstract

The beef cattle industry in the United States has undergone dramatic changes over the past decade with the adoption of genetic evaluation programs. The method of choice has been Henderson's mixed model methodology for best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP). The most prevalently used model is the animal model (Henderson and Quaas, 1976) computed by the equivalent reduced animal model (Quaas and Pollak, 1980).Neither the methodology or the models being used are particularly new. What is new in this industry is the widespread application of these techniques to the analysis of the data banks maintained by the breed organizations. Today many breed associations publish a national sire evaluation, and most of these have published their first in the last three years. This rapid proliferation of published evaluations has coincided with an attitude in the industry of promoting specification beef and predictable performance. Genetic evaluations provide information not only to achieve goals in selection but as well for merchandizing cattle based on quantifiable potential. The enthusiasm for genetic evaluations right now in the U.S. beef industry is high.