Performance Line
What are some Selection Tools Offered for your Herd Management ?
By Tonya Amen , National Center for Beef Excellence
Many of you have implemented management practices focused on genetic improvement in your herds . These include the selection decisions you make when choosing bulls and replacement females , the choices you make when deciding which bull to use on which female , and the procedures you have in place to take weights and measures for use in the bi-annual National Cattle Evaluation . Many of you may already have management practices in place for DNA testing , but it does deserve some attention .
and password . Along the lefthand side of the screen , locate the section called Ranch / Person and then select the DNA option under Herd Mgmt ( Figure 1 ).
From the DNA option , you can order sample kits , order tests , view and manage your orders , find probable genetic condition carriers in your herd , and many other DNA-testing related items . To order test kits , select the Order Supplies tab on the far right side of the screen ( Figure 2 ). Blood , hair , and tissue are the three types of collectors that are available , chose the one that you are most comfortable with . I would recommend always having some collectors on-hand so they are ready when the cattle are handy for pulling a sample .
As part of your management practices , I would suggest that you add choosing a time to pull a sample on every animal and keeping those samples in an archive on your farm or ranch . Just make sure the location is dry and out of direct sunlight . Properly stored samples should last for years , though TSU samples
should be frozen after a year .
When the time comes to place an order for a test , you ’ ll need to navigate to the DNA Order Request tab . From here , you enter the test type and registration number for the animal you wish to test . For parentage verification , you ’ ll also need to include the registration number for the
most likely sire and dam .
There are three primary ways DNA testing is currently used in the cattle industry : 1 ) for parent verification 2 ) testing for carriers of recessive genetic conditions 3 ) testing for use in genomicallyenhanced EPDs ( GE-EPD ). The reasons for parent verification and genetic condition testing
Figure 1
To get the process started , you need to have sample collectors on-hand . You can order test kits by logging in to the Digital Beef site ( https :// limousin . digitalbeef . com /) with your member code
16 | MAY 2018
Figure 2