WERA001: Beef Cattle Breeding in the Western Region
Statement of Issues and Justification
Food production, particularly beef, in the United States is transitioning from a loose commodity-based system to a system that allows "buyer choice" based on knowledge of production or measures of quality. This knowledge of production or quality is derived from the label. In the Western United States, this type of beef production is greatly challenged as lands and forages are highly variable requiring cows with different genetic potentials for optimum production. Thus, the product is not uniform. Furthermore, the industry continues with a segmented infrastructure making genetic improvement a very complex issue. Genetic improvement tools for beef production have adapted with the dynamics of this industry. They were initiated with crossbreeding and performance testing programs that expanded to genetic prediction technologies, which included multi-breed evaluations. Researchers and breeders are now developing models which incorporate molecular markers into genetic prediction technologies.The multi-decade history of this committee (WERA1) reveals that its activities impacted genetic improvement of beef cattle in the Western Region of the United States, nationally, and internationally. In the last petition, the committees purpose/goal was to develop improved methods of genetic improvement using the latest quantitative and molecular techniques to increase the probability of making economically-sound breeding decisions and to disseminate the new information to the industry. The committee needs to continue to strive to achieve this goal as the subject matter is substantial and dynamic. Achieving the goal will only come through the evolution of research and continued testing of its outputs within varied production scenarios. Dissemination of these results through educational efforts is greatly needed for the industry to actually realize the impact of the new tools on genetic improvement. The concept of new tools in beef cattle breeding, such as molecular markers, marker assisted evaluations, and marker assisted selection have been introduced, but many of the tools still require substantial research, development, and educational effort before breeders can adopt and realize a measurable change in their rate of genetic improvement.
The membership in this committee includes an important expertise-balance of quantitative with molecular geneticists that can collaborate and share resources as they strive to achieve their goal. This is an important change within the committee as the historic members were primarily quantitative geneticists. Thus, the committee is evolving within the discipline of breeding and genetics and has the ability to pursue the mission for effort in agriculture animal genomics recently described by the USDA Animal Genomics Strategic Planning Task Force (Green et al., 2007). The beef industry in the Western United States will benefit greatly from activities of this committee through ecologically-sound production systems that are economically viable.
Back to Top