DURHAM RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PTY.LTD.

Durham R&D Ltd. was established by the board of the Shorthorn Society of Australia in 2000 to take advantage of the Australian Government’s “donor company program” which encourages commercial investment in research and development with matching funds to finance approved research project expenditure on variable costs.

Meat and Livestock Australia is charged with overseeing beef industry R&D projects on behalf of the Government under this scheme and quarterly reports of project activity and milestone achievements are provided to the MLA Donor Company Board by the Durham Project Manager.

The project was originally designed to:

(1) Progeny test young, performance recorded Shorthorn bulls for carcase and reproductive traits.
(2) Submit raw data to Shorthorn Breedplan enabling the development of highly accurate carcase estimated breeding values.
(3) Investigate the role of scanning and other live measurements in identifying superior carcase sires.
(4) Use the test outcomes generated to demonstrate the benefits of well structured breeding programs.
(5) Provide a beef industry extension, learning and training programme focused on beef production, meat quality and meat safety issues.
(6) Provide post graduate opportunities.
(7) Establish “satellite” herds to generate additional data through the use of link sires from the test, allowing breeders to benchmark their own young bulls.
(8) Enhance data for the first multi-breed EBV’s by running recorded Angus females with the Durham Shorthorn herd under identical conditions, thereby benchmarking high accuracy sires from both breeds.
(9) Create the opportunity to export Australian bred and evaluated Shorthorn genetics to seed stock and commercial herds internationally.

INFRASTRUCTURE

A Project Steering Committee comprised of MLA and Durham representatives is responsible for financial control and milestone establishment for the program.
The Project Manager is responsible for field management of the project and reports to Directors of Durham Research and Development Ltd.

Extensive consultation takes place with the Animal Breeding and Genetics Unit (AGBU) and the Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI), both based at New England University, Armidale.

Director, Dr Hans Graser and the team of geneticists at AGBU advise on design and protocols and monitor management of the project constantly.

The BLUP (Best Linear Unbiased Prediction) analytical model developed by AGBU at the University of New England in the ‘80’s was commercialised as BREEDPLAN under the National Beef Recording Scheme by ABRI and the corrected data is converted to Shorthorn EBV’s by ABRI using “BLUP”.

THE TEST

The Durham Central herd of performance recorded, pedigree females currently consists of 260 Shorthorn and 30 Angus females. A further 40 Angus females will be purchased early in 2008 to add robustness to the multi-breed analysis.

The progeny test also involves some 700 performance recorded maiden heifers drawn from three herds which are inseminated annually, adding valuable data to the project. The Satellite herds, located at Condamine, Queensland, are managed under identical protocols to the Central herd which is based at Ebor, west of Armidale in New South Wales.

Selection.
Members of Shorthorn Beef and overseas breeders are invited to submit sires for test at a cost of AU$2,000 each, plus the cost of collection and delivery of 200 straws. The semen remains the property of Durham, however use is confined to the Central and Satellite herds.

Sire enrolment is not governed by age and due to the high percentage of heifers incorporated in the test (80%), bulls will be used over both heifers and mature cows to generate sufficient numbers for a meaningful sample of progeny.
Positions for the 2007 test are as follows:
#1: International Sire
#2: International Sire
#3: Highest Intramuscular Fat EBV
#4: 2nd Highest Intramuscular fat EBV
#5: Highest Retail Beef Yield EBV
#6: Highest SB3 Carcass Index
#7: Highest SB3 Maternal Index
#8: 2nd Highest SB3 Maternal Index
#9: Highest Domestic Supermarket Index
#10: Highest Domestic Restaurant Index
#11: Link Sires as Determined by AGBU
#12: Board Discretion

Preference is given to bulls which are genetically removed from previously tested sires, however discretion is applied in the interests of enrolling bulls which conform to the EBV and Index positions #3 to #10.

Bull contributors receive raw data for their animal as measured against an average for the intake for all measurements recorded, including:

Reproduction:
Direct Calving Ease, Birth Weight, Milk, Daughters Calving Ease, Gestation Length

Growth:
200 Day Weight, 400 day Weight , 600 day Weight, Mature Cow Weight
Carcase:
Carcase Weight, Eye Muscle Area, Rib Fat, Rump Fat, Retail Beef Yield
Intra-Muscular Fat (Marbling)

Fertility:
Days to Calving

Additional Measurements:
Skeletal Structure and Conformation, Coat Type*, Flight Time (Docility)**, Nett Feed Intake.

Notations:
Ill-Thrift, Viral and Bacterial Infections are noted and collated to determine if sire-lines have a propensity toward immunity or susceptibility.
* The Shorthorn breed is renowned for a thick winter coat which is not always shed in the prolonged, hot Australian Summer. With 70% of the Australian beef herd domiciled in the dry and hot or tropical northern regions of the country, selection for short, fine hair type is seen as critical for the breed to have a future in crossbreeding with Bos Indicus cattle in the Northern industry.
** Flight Time is the time taken for an animal to pass between two infra-red beams when released from a head bail or race. The longer the time taken, the more docile the animal. Flight time is proven to be highly correlated to tenderness as temperament has an important bearing on meat quality through the level of pH in the muscle fibre.

All bulls are DNA tested for commercial markers through the Genestar program and all cattle bred in the Central and Satellite herds are DNA typed for parentage verification.

The annual intake of 10-12 performance recorded Shorthorn bulls, is joined by two sires from previous years to provide genetic linkage and to strengthen international performance data, by overseas Shorthorn sires.

The Angus females in the Central herd are inseminated to high accuracy Angus sires and run with the Shorthorn herd under identical conditions at all times to provide raw data on all traits which can be corrected and compared to develop comparative Estimated Breeding Values.

Reproduction.
The bulls are randomly inseminated to both maiden heifers and cows in the Central and Satellite herds which are managed in common age groups at all times throughout the test to assure unbiased outcomes. For the outcomes to be valuable, it is imperative that animals in their respective management groups are treated in exactly the same manner and tests undertaken under exactly the same conditions.
All calves are weighed at birth and scored for calving ease, weighed again at weaning (approx 200 days), assessed for structure with a objective scoring system and a “flight time” is recorded to measure docility. Blood blots are also taken immediately prior to weaning to measure Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF1) levels.

N.B. The 2007 drop of 141 progeny from The Grove Satellite herd is the subject of a ground-breaking trial to measure the effects of early weaning on nett feed efficiency (expressed as Nett Feed Intake), growth, meat quality and fertility.

50% of the calves, selected to give a sample according to sex, sire progeny, weight and age, were weaned at an average of 123 days of age and the remainder are to be weaned at 235 days of age, which is normal practice.

Following weaning of the latter group, the calves will be run as common management groups according to sex and as yearlings committed to NFI test for 100 days in the Beef Co-operative Research Centre’s (CRC) feedlot.

From there, the heifers will return to pasture for eight weeks prior to insemination and growing out to calving and the steer progeny will continue a grain-fed regime for another 120 days before slaughter and chiller assessment at 420-450 kgs carcass weight for the Japanese market.

Growth. Fertility. Efficiency.
All progeny are retained unless they are classed as “outliers” with an obvious condition inhibiting performance. Male calves are castrated and same sex calves are managed as single mobs post-weaning with 400 and 600 day weights recorded.

The heifers undergo NFI testing prior to insemination to the immediate intake of sires at 15 months of age. They are further assessed for indirect (daughters) calving ease and recorded (as “days to calving”) for return to oestrus as a measure of fertility.

The measurement of nett feed efficiency is extremely expensive (approx $500/head) and steer progeny will normally only be tested should greater samples of sire groups be required.

Carcase.
Whether the steers spend an initial 100 days in the NFI bunkers or go straight to the AMH Beef City commercial feedlot, they will be slaughtered at 220 days on feed at around 750kgs live weight.

Chiller assessment is undertaken for carcase weight, eye muscle area (EMA), subcutaneous rib and rump fat and intra-muscular fat (IMF). A retail beef yield is also calculated.

The raw data collected for each trait within the reproduction, growth and carcase phases is then corrected and applied to the sire and dam estimated breeding values, increasing the accuracies of each value significantly.


UTILISING DURHAM OUTCOMES

The Durham progeny test, which is recognized as a programme of the highest integrity, is delivering outcomes which allow breeders to use “curve bending” bulls with confidence.

Two bulls, (Table b), recognized as leading seed stock sires in their time and born two decades apart, have completed testing through the Durham programme and their EBV’s are indicative of the value of objective measurement in the selection of sires for today’s highly competitive market.


Table (b)



Number of Herds (2) Progeny Analysed (29) Birth Wt Progeny (27)
Scan Progeny (16) Carcase Progeny (12) Number of Daughters (15)




Number of Herds (7) Progeny Analysed (129) Birth Weight Progeny (34)
Scan Progeny (30) Carcase Progeny (12) Number of Daughters (0)


Durham has proven sires to deliver moderate birthweight and are trait leaders in the Shorthorn breed for growth, carcase weight, and yield, such as Sire (Y), allowing breeders utilising these genetics to halt the slide into management difficulties and loss of profitability.

Breedplan also recognizes the importance of multi-trait selection and the dangers of single trait selection. Consequently, selection indexes incorporating economically important parameters have been developed, each focused on specifications relevant to market categories.

Low birthweight and calving ease are the most important economic traits in the selection index parameters and if accompanied by high growth and carcase yield, the combination delivers high indexing (profitable) bulls such as Sire (Y).

Sire (X), a popular sire in the ‘70’s and selected subjectively, appeals with low birth weight and high marbling but those positive values do not outweigh lower growth, yield and carcase weight.








FUTURE INITIATIVES

Possibly the most exciting development of the Durham project is the Net Feed Intake testing of both the Shorthorn and Angus progeny. Currently, Shorthorn Beef is the only breed society in the world matching genotype to phenotypic performance for NFI.

Identification of animals which are efficient in the conversion of feed to carcass weight will be the single most important issue in making the beef industry competitive with chicken and pork.

Adjusted raw data collected from the 48 (2005 drop) heifers reflects the two previous NFI tests with a significant difference in feed conversion evident between sire-line progeny.



The difference in adjusted NFI between bulls (B) and (F) amounts to 1.82 kgs per day. Should this difference be reflected for the long-fed regime of 220 days in the feedlot it amounts to 400 kgs of fodder per head.

Currently, the difference in converted feed costs between the desirable (negative NFI) and the undesirable (positive NFI) sire progeny is estimated at AU$152 per head.

Savings of this significance will dictate selection of sires in the future with finishers of cattle off grass or grain determining the genetics which breeders are to use.

The progeny test is likely to be completed by 2012, however the Durham directors are already planning a co-operative sire proving scheme. Herds contributing performance recorded females to insemination from a number of “outside” will in turn become eligible to submit bulls for test within the co-operative. This style of “merry-go-round” trade in genetics provides excellent linkage and high accuracy for a progeny test and minimizes costs by removing the need for a central test herd.