Abstract

Selective breeding of farm livestock is one of the most cost-effective ways of improving the performance and efficiency of livestock enterprises. Genetic improvement of British beef cattle over a ten year period was recently estimated to be worth approximately £23, and the benefits continue to rise (Amer et al., 2007). While these returns are impressive, they could be improved by increasing the rate of improvement in the purebred population, for example by increasing the relevance of estimated breeding values (EBVs) to beef production by using final carcass weight and grading information. This study will examine the feasibility carcass weights and classifications from UK commercial abattoirs for the genetic evaluation of cattle for carcass weight, carcass fatness class, and carcass conformation class.

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