The Genetic Merit Awards Task Force held its third meeting May 7-8 in Denver. Since meeting in late 2023, the industry-based group has been working to help the cattle industry move toward widespread use of genetic information in feeder cattle and calf pricing. More than 95% of US feeder cattle change ownership without the benefit of shared genetic information. Therefore, objectively determined genetic information plays no significant role in the value discovery process in today’s nutritional marketplace.
Task Force members agree that, to get the ball rolling, more commercial producers need to obtain and communicate genetic information on their feeder cattle and calves at the time they offer their animals for sale. If manufacturers do not have this information, they obviously cannot share it with potential buyers. However, as more producers begin to include genetic information in the description of the cattle they are selling, buyers will become accustomed to using this data as they formulate their offers.
To help move producers in this direction, the task force voted unanimously to establish a Genetic Discovery Pilot Project focusing initially on 100 commercial cow-calf producers. Breed support associations were directed to voluntarily recruit five to 10 members of their association (seed producers) who are progressive-minded and committed to genetic improvement.
Association personnel will work with each of their selected seed members to identify two to three bull customers who are interested in learning about the genetics in their herds. Once commercial producers are identified, association personnel will assist the participating seed breeder and their bull customer in obtaining registration numbers and average EPD rankings for bulls that were fed to their 2024 calf crop. By the end of this discussion, participating producers will have a better understanding of the genetic merits of their calves. The goal is to have at least half of these genetic discovery evaluations completed by the next meeting of the Genetic Merit Awards Task Force in September 2024.
Lance W. Bauer, Ph.D., director of breed improvement, Beefmaster Breeders United said, “The third meeting of the GMP Working Group was productive, following excellent presentations and breakout sessions discussing tools for identifying genetic merit, the task force voted to ask breed support associations to reach out and help educate commercial producers on the genetic merits of their current bull battery and discuss how they can use such data to help calf markets.
“It’s great to see such a diverse group come together and openly discuss the issues of discovering value in cattle based on their genetic merit,” added Chris McClure, executive director, Santa Gertrudis Breeders International. “When you have every segment of the industry – from seed to packer – represented in the same room, discussing the challenges of properly evaluating cattle based on their genetic potential, it’s unprecedented. Now that we’re moving into setting goals and methodology concrete for more accurate feed performance metrics for interested buyers, we can advance the industry by leaps and bounds over traditional price discovery methods is exciting to see what’s happening.”
The next meeting of the Genetic Merit Awards Task Force will be held in Kansas City on September 17-18.
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