Providing you with the latest technical information
The following “Wagyu Technical Updates” have been pulled from past editions of the Wagyu Update Magazine and contain valuable information regarding the entire Wagyu Sector.
Technical Updates
TRICKY TRAITS – Back to Basics
January 2022 – Issue 79
Addressing common trait recording issues to maximise your data value.
Over the last 3 years, the number of Wagyu Breeders who record trait performance data on their herds has increased significantly. Many members record and then submit this to the AWA for inclusion in the BREEDPLAN genetic analysis.
BLOODLINES vs PEDIGREES & EBV’s vs GENOMICS
January 2022 – Issue 79
There is a high interest within Wagyu breeders in paying homage to traditional Wagyu bloodlines that trace back to the foundation genetics originating from Japan. From thee genetics, more than 250,000 individuals have been registered with the AWA.
CROSSBRED WAGYU DATA – GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THIS PERFORMANCE DATA
April 2022 – Issue 80
“it is essential that members plan and manage appropriate groups of animals if they wish to use crossbred data to contribute to the EBV’s of their sires.”
- Only use registered sires
- Use more than one sire
- Record birthdate
- DNA test your calves
- Keep animals together for whole-of-life
- Slaughter date
MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS TO AWA WAGYU BREEDPLAN
April 2022 – Issue 80
Three significant improvements
- Updated genetic parameters were implemented
- changed BREEDPLAN model type to accommodate heterosis effects from crossbred data
- an additional ~ 8,000 crossbred progeny carcase records were included
CROSSBRED DATA NOW USED IN WAGYU BREEDPLAN
April 2022 – Issue 80
Wagyu crossbred data can now be submitted into BREEDPLAN and used to generate EBV’s. This is an important step as it will lead to an increase in accuracy of dam and sire EBV’s. As accuracy is related directly to the rate of genetic improvement, we want to maximize this and use all possible information to form EBV’s. The addition of this large volume of crossbred data increased the average accuracy for the CWT EBV from 63% to 78%. It also increased the variation in EBV’s for sires that had crossbred progeny data added. This is an advantage for Wagyu members as it will aid in increased genetic progress when using EBV’s in their breeding programs.
TURNING DATA INTO USABLE INFORMATION
AUGUST 2020 – Issue 73
The key to making genetic improvement in your herd is to turn data into information that can help you make better breeding and selection decisions. Genetic evaluation systems are designed to do this for you by removing the noise in data and determining what the best estimate of genetic merit of an animal is.
THE POLLED GENE IN WAGYU
APRIL 2021 – Issue 77
The polled gene is another name given for the Celtic polled allele. It is not naturally present in Japanese Black Fullblood Wagyu, but has been introduced to Purebreds through crosses with other breeds.
UNDERSTANDING EBV ACCURACY
SEPTEMBER 2019 – Issue 72
An EBV is an estimate of the animal’s genetic merit for a trait based on all the information currently available. The “accuracy” figure in an animal’s EBV table give a confidence assessment of how close the estimate is to the true breeding value for a trait.
TRANSFORMING DATA INTO BREEDING DECISIONS WITH $INDEXES
AUGUST 2020 – Issue 75
“Rather than fixate on the actual $Index values, breeders should look at how animals rank in comparison to each other within the $Index that best suits their production system.”
THE MATURE COW
APRIL 2021 – Issue 77
The ideal maternal female is capable of becoming pregnant, giving birth unassisted, providing ample milk for the calf until weaning, and then readily going back into her cycles, all while maintaining a good body condition on pasture.
MANAGING STRESS IN WAGYU CATTLE
APRIL 2020 – Issue 74
Top Wagyu producers worldwide understand the consequences of stress on their cattle and attempt to minimise any and all potential sources of stress which might exist since they have learned that stress is like a thief seeking to steal potential profits whenever possible.
THIRD & FOURTH GENERATION WAGYU PROVEN SIRES
August 2021 – Issue 78
This article challenges two long-held myths in the Wagyu Sector. The first is that only the Foundation Sires (first generation sires out of Japan) are proven sires for carcase traits. The second is that having raw carcase data for the sires in your herd is the most important information relating to that sire’s genetic merit.
WHAT DO PREFECTURES TELL US ABOUT THE GENETICS OF WAGYU CATTLE IN AUSTRALIA
August 2021 – Issue 78
Prefectures are the term used to indicate where in Japan Wagyu cattle originated from, where the animals which came to Australia were sourced from. There were at least 7 prefectures included in the original import of animals into Australia. Reducing the available diversity from the 364 individuals down to 7 prefectures or bloodlines results in a significant loss of useful pedigree information that is beneficial for managing genetic gain and maintaining genetic diversity.
IMPROVE YOUR BREEDING DECISIONS WITH MATESEL
August 2020 – Issue 75
The decision of which bull to mate with which cow impacts the rate of genetic improvement, inbreeding levels and overall profitability of a herd. MateSel is software which uses pedigree, $Index and EBV information to create suggested mating lists based on nominated candidate sires and dams to increase the genetic merit of the progeny while containing inbreeding in the herd.
WHAT HAPPENED TO SHIGESHIGETANI’S MARBLE SCORE EBV
January 2021 – Issue 76
An animals breeding value is often defined as its genetic merit, and while it is not possible to define its true breeding values, Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) give us a good indication of the potential of an animal. The EBV of an animal is determined by the data provided for that animal, genotypes and phenotypes, including the data of progeny and relatives.
Large chunks of performance data are often submitted to AWA by members, and these can cause the EBVs of animals to fluctuate quite significantly. As an example, an additional 46 carcase records added to the system caused a change of +1.0 to Shigeshigetani’s (WKSFP1593) Marble Score EBV.
DIVERSITY BRINGS GENETIC STRENGTH
April 2020 – Issue 74
Often breeders look to use genetics which are closely related to concentrate on desirable characteristics, and genetics which have worked for them in the past. There are positives to using inbreeding techniques in a breeding operation, however there are risks associated: inbreeding depression in production traits, reduction in genetic diversity and increase homozygosity of recessive conditions.
WHY MORE PERFORMANCE DATA
January 2020 – Issue 73
Carcase data has been a large contributor to the improvements seen in Wagyu BREEDPLAN over the last few years. The records have boosted accuracies for carcase EBVs for a large number of sires with progeny that had carcase data recorded. The information used to calculate EBVs can be categorised into three main contributors; genetic merit of related animals, the genotype of the animal and then performance data recorded.
BREEDPLAN AND YOU
April 2019 – Issue 71
There is a misconception that only large herds have the scale to make performance recording for submitting data to Wagyu BREEDPLAN effective. Performance recording is in fact valuable for all herd sizes and is the key to genetic progress.
FLUSH SISTERS OR FLUSH BROTHERS ARE NOT IDENTICAL TWINS
April 2019 – Issue 71
Many Wagyu breeders are amazed at at the physical diversity that can be seen between full sisters or full brothers that are produced from the same flush. This diversity is a result of genetic differences between embryos that is created by the unique sample of parental DNA in each egg and in each sperm that are brought together during fertilisation.