STAYING THE COURSE: DEVELOPING A BREEDING PLAN AND STICKING TO IT Troy Rowan, Assistant Professor Department of Animal Science, University of Tennessee
For good reason, any good animal breeding class starts not with EPDs or heritabilities, but with a discussion of breeding objectives. The Beef Improvement Federation defines breeding objectives as “goals for specific traits that can be influenced through selection.” In essence, it’s a framework for where we want to move our herd genetically. It is the absolute core of what we do as livestock breeders, yet it is frequently skipped over in our decision-making process. Often, I see operations, commercial and seedstock alike, make bull-buying or mating decisions that are at odds with their core goals. This often is to chase some sort of fad or overreact to an industry trend. Cattle generation intervals are long: As such, reactionary breeding decisions are likely to be out of style by the time we see the effects play out. Sound breeding objectives help us stay the course with our genetic program, consistently accumulating genetic improvement Developing a breeding plan is easy enough, but it can have an enormous impact on an operation’s long-term success. Ideally, these plans focus on enhancing profitability through selection for economically relevant traits: traits that either generate revenue (e.g., weaning weight, carcass weight) or reduce costs (e.g., feed intake, heifer replacement). They should also be somewhat specific to our own operation, capturing traits of particular interest or weaknesses that we want to pay special attention to.
Breeding objectives can be adjusted as we address weaknesses, but it is crucial that we maintain consistency in the core drivers of profitability. Breeding plans can include dozens of traits, but the two most important drivers of which traits we account for should be the operation’s marketing plan (i.e., when do we sell calves) and its plan for replacement heifers (i.e., do we retain replacement females or buy them). Understanding these two pieces outlines a general framework of traits that should be included in our breeding objective. Economic selection indexes are invaluable tools for simultaneously advancing multiple traits to maximize profit. For example, a herd that markets calves at weaning and retains its own replacement females would be best suited using a maternal index like $M. We can then supplement this overall metric with EPDs for other traits to advance specific areas of interest. The primary role of a breeding plan is to ensure we invest in the right genetics (i.e., bulls). As such, commercial operations should purchase bulls from seedstock providers with aligned breeding programs. Herds with maternally oriented breeding objectives don’t need to buy bulls from a seedstock herd focused on improving carcass quality. Conversations with your bull provider are invaluable in ensuring that your breeding plans are well-aligned.
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