Nov. 19,
2020
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more
information contact:
Holly
Martin, director of communications
(816)
383-5143
To
watch the video press release, click
here.
First
Ever Joint Partnership with Angus Australia
Angus
Australia and the American Angus Association partner on foot score phenotypes.
The American Angus Association®
introduces the first ever partnership with Angus Australia and the Canadian
Angus Association to combine foot score phenotypes from all three databases. Following
promising results from research conducted by AGI®, the first updated
foot score EPDs including phenotypes from all three databases will be published
on November 27.
“Using all three of these databases
will be valuable to breeders as we can better characterize both foot angle and
claw set in our weekly genetic evaluations,” says Kelli Retallick, director of genetic
and genomic programs for AGI. “This will undoubtedly increase the accuracy of
these predictions, which in turn will allow Angus breeders to make more solid
decisions about foot confirmation.”
Over the past several years, AGI has had the
opportunity to work on several research initiatives with the goal of improving
the weekly genetic evaluation for users of Angus genetics. To improve this
evaluation, increasing the quantity and the quality of the data is important while
considering the connectedness of that data across different contemporary
groups. The joint evaluation adds over 62,000 Australian foot score phenotypes
to the more than 48,000 American and Canadian records currently held in the
American Angus Association database.
“The reason we can combine these two
databases is because the scoring systems between the two associations are very
similar,” says Retallick. “Actually, the foot score system we use here in the States
was modeled after the Australian system, which has been used to capture
phenotypes from certified scorers as far back as 2002.”
Before these databases could be
combined, it was also important to determine the connectedness of the two datasets.
In doing so, AGI found that 20% of the progeny that had a foot score phenotype
collected in Australia were sired by an American Angus Association registered
bull and that another 33% had an American Angus Association grandsire in their
pedigree.
Another benefit of incorporating the
Australian dataset is that it contains progeny phenotypes on older American
sires, among which are 35 American Angus Association sires born between 1988
and 2014 that have a minimum of 25 Australian progeny with foot scores. Though
these 35 sires have no foot score records whatsoever in the American database,
they have 3,114 records in the Australian data set.
“This adds a lot of value to our
weekly genetic evaluation in North America as we now have progeny phenotypes on
bulls that we didn’t have the opportunity to capture since we just started
collecting foot scores in 2015,” says Retallick.
While these phenotypes bring value
to the American Angus Association database, adding a large amount of data may
result in changes to claw set and foot angle EPDs for individual animals. Though
the correlations for claw set and foot angle between the existing and combined
evaluations are quite high at .88 and .87, respectively, some reranking of
animals will occur, particularly for those that have no records in the American
database and a substantial number of progeny records in Australia. However, due
to the quality of the data being introduced, these changes should be viewed as
improvements to the predictions for these traits.
Looking at current sires that are
registered in the American Angus Association herd book, the largest claw set
and foot angle EPD changers are approximately +/- 0.25. Because foot score EPDs
are components of the maternal weaned calf ($M) value, changes may be also be
seen in this index. The largest changers for $M index are around $18, and this
$18 change will also be reflected in the combined value ($C) index.
Learn more about this partnership and
how it will positively impact the American Angus Association®
database at angus.org. You can also watch Retallick discuss this partnership on
the American Angus Association YouTube channel, Angus TV.
— Written by Whitney Whitaker, Angus Communications
ANGUS MEANS
BUSINESS. The
American Angus Association® is the nation’s largest beef breed
organization, serving more than 25,000 members across the United States, Canada
and several other countries. It’s home to an extensive breed registry that
grows by nearly 300,000 animals each year. The Association also provides
programs and services to farmers, ranchers and others who rely on Angus to
produce quality genetics for the beef industry and quality beef for consumers.
For more
information about Angus cattle and the American Angus Association, visit www.angus.org.
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