Executive Summary
“Change is Not Done for the Sake of Change”
By Mark Anderson, NALF executive director
The start-up of BOLT EPD single-step
national cattle evaluations initiated
for cooperating breed associations
through International Genetic
Solutions (IGS) in the Summer and
Fall of 2018. This has made it possible
for commercial cattle producers
that purchase bulls from seedstock
producers to actually have the ability
to compare EPD traits across breeds
now with the IGS cooperator breeds.
Improvements with DNA technology
and genomic enhancement to EPD
evaluations are better utilized to reflect
truer accuracies on cattle purchases
and enhance the predictability of
those cattle and their impact they
will have on individual cowherds.
The seedstock business and the
technologies applied to enhance
breeding and mating selections
continues to move forward at a much
more rapid pace. Most progressive
breeders, regardless of the breed they
are producing, are rapidly utilizing
advancements regarding DNA testing
and genomics to enhance accuracy
of cattle they wish to propagate and
market by getting a peek earlier in the
animal’s life at what their actual genetic
potential is.
Commercial
bull buyers are
also becoming
more aware
of advantages
that genomic
enhanced
EPDs provide,
as well as an
ever-increasing
number
of buyers
who want their purchases to
be genomically enhanced.
The changes that have happened in
cattle evaluations, with the switch to
single-step EPDs, that capitalize on the
further advancements in technology,
have not been easy, for breeders or
breed associations alike. As with any
change, there are issues and items
that people question, base changes
on old EPDs in the new methodology,
along with some re-ranking that always
occurs. Though some of this has been
unpopular, most progressive breeders
realize that the cattle business is no
different than other businesses when
new technology and advancement
comes along, they must be utilized to
stay competitive in today’s marketplace.
Limousin cattle appear to look very
competitive in cross breed comparisons
within the 17 EPD traits that are
currently tracked in our National Cattle
Evaluation, now released on a weekly
basis. The Limousin and Lim-Flex cattle
excel on weight trait, calving ease,
stayability, and as expected, yield
carcasses that maintain ribeye and
superior yield grade. Base shifts did
occur with the
switch from
the Cornell
evaluation to
BOLT. One of
those base
shifts was milk
for Limousin.
In the old
Cornell system
average
Limousin
milk was
Limousin and Lim-Flex
cattle work exceptionally
well in today’s cattle
industry, particularly when
a commercial operation is
utilizing a crossbreeding
program...
8 | FEBRUARY 2019
at 27 when most breeds are
averaging between 20-23. The BOLT
system corrected this and reflected
a base shift downward to 21.
The milk base shift, while making more
sense in cross breed comparisons,
dictates breeders need to re-look
at the way the milk EPD should be
analyzed. Many breeds have had a
concentrated effort to drive their milk
number down, as an extremely large
number may have yielded too many
females that had too large of an energy
maintenance requirement, which in-
turn has inhibited fertility and been
detrimental to her ability to breed back
the following year. This is especially
true when cattle are run in rough
country or have to survive through
drought and tougher feed conditions.
Remember that the milk EPD is also a
weight trait; based off weaning weights
of the bull’s daughter’s progeny, it is
an additional add-on to the weaning
weight EPD. That is also why the current
models take high growth weight trait
cattle and actually adjust the milk EPD
downward slightly to reflect a truer
picture of weaning weight expectancies
when combining pounds from weaning
weight and milk EPD contribution to
weaning weight. A high growth bull
with a big weaning weight number
and lower milk number are still very
usable in todays cattle industry. Most
of these high weight trait individuals
remain in the top 30th percentile for
Total Maternal, which actually combines
milk, weaning weight, calving ease, and
stayability on the individual. In other
words, one should place more emphasis