Five new livestock traits that farmers are directly paid for have been developed to help improve profits by producing more beef animals that meet target specification.
The new Estimated Breeding Values (EBV’s) have been created to help farmers improve profit.
This is the first set of EBVs for traits that farmers are directly paid for, so they are considered useful to commercial as well as pedigree farmers.
The five new EBVs are; carcase weight, carcase conformation, carcase fat class, slaughter age and average daily carcase gain.
AHDB Beef & Lamb, Scotland’s Rural College and Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales) have created the new traits.
Dr Alex Brown, AHDB Beef Breeding Projects Manager, said: “Considering a sire’s carcase figures when selecting calves for rearing is an example of how commercial farmers could use them to purchase better-performing cattle.
“However, it is important to consider this new data alongside other EBVs when selecting individuals for breeding.
“For example, animals of high carcase merit should not be chosen to the detriment of health and fertility traits such as calving ease.”
Dr Brown added: “We are seeing high levels of variation within all beef breeds for the new traits, so all breeds have the opportunity to make genetic progress in this area.
“The EBVs are expressed on two bases, native and continental, so EBVs can be compared between animals of the same breed type,” he said.
The new EBVs have been calculated by combining data from abattoirs, British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) and breed societies.
The abattoir data currently covers 40 per cent of the national kill and more than two million carcase records for both purebred and crossbred animals have been used to develop the EBVs.
The new EBVs are freely accessible by searching by eartag or pedigree name via the AHDB National Beef Evaluations.
