Genetic evaluation of cattle and sheep.

TL;DRAbstract

When choosing sires and dams with which to breed future generations, the genetic merit that they will pass on to their offspring (called their breeding value) is of great importance. If we wish to continue to improve a trait we must choose the animals with the highest breeding values for that trait. We cannot do this unless we can estimate the breeding values of the animals available for selection. In the past, various methods have been used to estimate breeding value including a critical study of the animal's appearance but, in recent years, new and more accurate methods have been introduced into the dairy, beef and wool industries. In this segment I describe the principles on which estimation of breeding values is based. The following contributions explain how these are applied to the dairy, beef and wool industries.

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper