Genomic evaluation service
Find out who your best performers will be at a younger age.
Our genomic evaluation service adds your heifers’ DNA information to their evaluation so you get a more reliable prediction of their performance before they start milking.
Key benefits
- Improved reliability of your animals’ breeding values
- Breed from the best earlier – confidently select your highest genetic merit cows to breed the next generation of replacements from at a young age
- No extra effort – we use the same tissue sample you send in for DNA parentage testing
- Improved accuracy of the predicted genetic merit of close relatives
When a calf is born its breeding values are determined by its parent average (½ sire and ½ dam), however the reliability of this is low (around 30%) until herd test data can be incorporated.
Genomic evaluation fast-tracks this process and provides a more accurate prediction of a young animal’s performance, backed by your co-op’s 30-year investment in genomic science and technology.
By adding an animal’s DNA information to its evaluation, the reliability of its breeding values will increase (to around 50-60%). The higher the reliability the closer the breeding value is to the animal’s true genetic merit.
Animal example
This table shows how an animal’s breeding values deviate from its parent average once its own DNA information is added to the evaluation.
This animal’s DNA information indicates that overall she is better than parent average – particularly for fat, liveweight and somatic cell count.
Although some breeding values go up and some go down, the outcome is a more accurate prediction of this animal’s genetic merit (represented by an increase in reliability).
Heifer calf
|
Trait |
Parent average |
Following our Genomic evaluation service |
|---|---|---|
|
Trait gBW |
Parent average |
Following our Genomic evaluation service |
|
Trait Fat gBV |
Parent average |
Following our Genomic evaluation service |
|
Trait Protein gBV |
Parent average |
Following our Genomic evaluation service |
|
Trait Volume gBV |
Parent average |
Following our Genomic evaluation service |
|
Trait Liveweight gBV |
Parent average |
Following our Genomic evaluation service |
|
Trait Somatic Cell gBV |
Parent average |
Following our Genomic evaluation service |
|
Trait Fertility gBV |
Parent average |
Following our Genomic evaluation service |
|
Trait BCS gBV |
Parent average |
Following our Genomic evaluation service |
|
Trait Functional survival gBV |
Parent average |
Following our Genomic evaluation service |
Source: LIC Single Step Animal Model AE Outputs, 22 January 2022
The service is only available for female cattle which are being DNA parentage tested. All animals submitted for genomic evaluations need to be parentage tested first to increase the reliability of the animal's genomic breeding values. We use the same tissue sample for parentage testing and genomic evaluation so there’s no extra work for you.
Once your parentage results have been completed, we’ll start working on your genomic evaluation results.
Estimated turnaround time for results for each service are:
- DNA parentage: 4-5 weeks from booking date
- Genomic evaluation: Results are dependent on quality checks (which can take up to three weeks) and the timing of the next monthly Animal Evaluation (AE) run, but it will be at least four weeks following DNA parentage results.
Once your parentage results are completed, we'll let you know what AE run your animals' genomic evaluation data will be submitted to. Once the AE run has been completed, your animals' updated genomic breeding values will be uploaded to MINDA and we'll email you a genomic evaluation report.
For more information on how to read your report please read Genomic Evaluation service – FAQ’s.
Genomic evaluation
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Genomic evaluation price |
$25 + GST per animal (in addition to the GeneMark DNA parentage service pricing). |
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Genomic evaluation service
Find out who your best performers will be at a younger age.
