Checks and procedures

Checks and procedures that validate Warwick Court’s Breedplan EBVs and provide the most accurate assessment of our cattle.

Phenotype Recording

Warwick Court:

• Is one of only 25 Hereford herds of the 310 Hereford herds that has a Herd Completeness of Performance Rating of 4.5 Star rated  Achieved since 2009. Due to drought conditions in 2017 we dropped from 5 star to a 4.5 star rating.
• Is the only one of those herds that maintains both a herd using Poll-Genetics and one using Horned-Genetics
• Uses a large yearly AI Program to introduce external genetics
  • These sires are selected to maximise the rate of genetic improvement.
  • The size of the all individual sire joining is managed to provide a viable sample of calves for analysis by Breedplan
  • External AI Sires are usually also selected for their use in other herds providing strong across breed linkages.
  • The heavy use of Sires both Warwick Court bred and external Sires that have participated in the MLA – Hereford Australia BIN Project provides strong across breed linkages.
  • The carcase data generated by the MLA – Hereford Australia BIN Project provides independent validation of carcase traits.
• The Genetic Improvement Benchmarking Report provides
  • Current Genetic Position / Genetic Trends
    • Warwick Court Vs Australian Hereford Herd
  • Drivers Influencing Genetic Improvement
    • The influence of all sires used on a year by year basis

Genomics

What will this mean for phenotypic data collected by breeders?

Phenotypic data will remain as important as ever. The basis of accurate cattle selection has always been based on accurate information. The development of genomic-enhanced selection tools has simply emphasized the need for accurate phenotypes. Just like the current two-step approach, the single-step method is also built off of accurate phenotypes. Genomic technology will be updated monthly in our evaluation.

If breeders are submitting phenotypic data on sires not closely related to the reference population, this data will be leveraged with the genomic information monthly rather than having to wait on a routine calibration. With the two-step approach, the calibration step determines a best “one size fits all” approach to predicting performance based on the genomic information. With single step the more closely related a breeder’s newly genotyped animals are to the database of genotypes and phenotypes, the more accurate the GE-EBVs will be. Those breeders who are doing the most phenotyping and genotyping will have the advantage of more accurate GE-EBVs for selection with single step. Breeders who rely solely on others to report phenotypic measures and utilize genomic testing to receive GE-EBVs will not see equal increases in accuracy.

Warwick Court is now committed to benefits of DNA SNP Technology and is uniquely placed benefit from the technology because of its’ long term commitment to the mapping of the Phenotype with our procedures to:

• Maintains both a herd using Poll-Genetics and one using Horned-Genetics.
• Data Integrity
• Completeness of Data collection
• Sire sample size
• Connections via sires with the MLA – Hereford Australia BIN Project and the overall Breed
• Core part of the Hereford reference population