SHORTHORN GENETIC IMPROVEMENT PROJECT: Stage 1 Report

Stage 1 Report by Durham Research & Development Pty Ltd
To MLA Donor Company Limited And Meat & Livestock Australia Limited
Prepared by Graeme Mitchell, Managing Consultant Durham R&D, & Wayne Upton, Animal Breeding and Genetics Unit
University of New England

Durham Research & Development (Durham R&D) is the first project in the world in which a breed society has offered to its members the opportunity to assess the genetic merit of young sires with such a high degree of sophistication. This project has been responsible for lifting the genetic evaluation of Shorthorn cattle in Australia to the sophistication only seen in numerically much stronger societies. It has been largely responsible for:
leading the way for the introduction of calving ease for the Shorthorn breed, dramatically increasing the number of sires with highly accurate carcase traits, promoting debate among members on the value of EBVs and Indexes which has led to
a much greater use of these genetic evaluation tools, and providing Proof of Profit for EBVs and Indexes to the beef industry.

Open the attachment below to read the full report.