The catalyst for the global evaluation will be theinternational Hereford genetic linkage program. This is adonor program between Meat and Livestock Australia(MLA - Australia's peak body for red meat industries) andthe Australian Hereford and Poll Hereford societies. Theresults of the linkage project and the development of globalevaluation options will be reported to the conference duringa keynote session presented by Dr Hans Graser, DavidJohnston and Kath Donoghue from the Animal Geneticsand Breeding Unit (AGBU - the genetics Research andDevelopment group in Armidale which develops theinternational BREEDPLAN genetic evaluation programs).

The linkage project has been established using reciprocalmatings of 8 international sires (four Australian, two US andtwo Canadian) across Australia, United States andCanada, with secondary links in the UK and Ireland.Progeny from the link sires are being fully evaluated forgrowth, feed efficiency and carcase traits, with samplegroups on display at the conference. The Australianprogeny have birth and weaning data on file and the steers

commence a 90-day feedlot finishing and feed efficiencytest in November, 2003. The North American progeny areapproaching weaning and the UK/Irish progeny areyearlings (Nov 2003).

Given that the performance data from Hereford cattle inAustralia and New Zealand is combined in a BREEDPLANevaluation, and that strong genetic links exist between theHereford populations in North and South America, globallinkage will be established by the project.

The logistics of proceeding to a global evaluation havebeen simplified because all the major Hereford populationsaround the world will be using BREEDPLAN technology. Afurther bonus of the project will be the validation of EBVs inthe field. The birth/weaning results already in from thelinkage program demonstrate the accuracy of sire EBVs inpredicting progeny performance for those traits.

Bob FreerProject Manager and consultant to Australian Hereford

and Poll Hereford societies

Towards global Hereford genetic evaluation

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!! Hereford BREEDPLAN in America - page 3 & 4 !! Multibreed maternal traits - page 10!! Fertility EBVs - page 6 & 8 !! CRC research - page 11!! Brahman web use - page 9 !! Benchmarking - page 19

The 14th World HerefordConference to be held is Armidale,Australia at the end of March 2004will discuss progress towards aworld genetic evaluation of theHereford breed. This is becoming apossibility via a new geneticlinkage project and the fact that theBREEDPLAN genetic evaluationsystem is now used by Herefordbreeders in eight countries.BREEDPLAN developments inseveral of these countries arediscussed in this newsletter alongwith information on the conference.

Editor � s notes

This annual newsletter normallycomes out in Autumn, but we areearlier this year to includeinformation on the World HerefordCongress (see P5). This is fromMarch 26th - 29th, at Armidaleuniversity, which of course alsohouses BREEDPLAN HQ, so therewill be significant sessions onperformance recording.

The past year seems unfortunately tohave been very drought-oriented fora large part of our clientele. There arestill areas short of feed and/or water,and of course even where feed isnow OK, the financial drain lingers.I've heard amazing drought survivalstories and community assistanceefforts and will just share one: Asemi-retired cattle consultant, nowliving on the NSW coast wanted to dosomething to help. He organiseddinners and various other functionsand raised a substantial sum. Byphoning a friend in western NSW, hewas given contacts for some youngfamilies who "were significantcontributors to the industry and their

district and really in need". Theywere, I am sure very grateful toreceive truckloads of fodder.

On the positive side, droughts alwaysmake us review strategies and I knowof people forced to early wean, whonow will do so more often in averageseasons. Drought also challengesfertility, so we have several stories inthis issue on BREEDPLAN fertility-related matters. A new developmenthere is that plans are in hand toinclude AI data in calculating thefemale fertility EBV, days to calving(DC). To obtain accurate EBVs, withor without AI, requires morecomprehensive recording than iscurrently done by many herdshowever (see page 6).

MENTORING? Efforts continue tofind new ways of improvingBREEDPLAN use by commercialand stud breeders. At one 'buzzgroup' I attended to plan newinitiatives, a suggestion was madethat mentors may help some newmembers. If you are an experiencedBREEDPLAN member prepared to

do some mentoring OR have recentlyjoined and would appreciate amentor - please contact me and I willassist the connections.

Best wishes for 2004 - a wetter one!brian.sundstrom@agric.nsw.gov.au

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Editor Brian Sundstrom at a recentfield day.

Brian Sundstrom is Cattle BreedingCo-ordinator with NSWAgriculture. Part of this roleinvolves Technical Specialist

and Advisory work with BREEDPLANfrom an office at ABRI. His othermajor extension responsibility is withthe Beef CRC Group.

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Angus boost in ArgentinaThe Bustingorri group of Angus breeders in Argentina havehad another very successful year. There are now 20 herdsin BREEDPLAN, up by 25%. Commercial beef producersare seeking out and paying good money for bulls withBREEDPLAN EBVs.

As in South Africa, the time has come to engage a localconsultant to handle the many issues involved in marketdevelopment, not least of which is getting technical andmarketing information available in Spanish in hard copyand on the Web. Maria Calafé is an Argentinian Vet whohas been closely involved with the BREEDPLAN activitiesof the Bustingorri group. She was sponsored into Australiaby ABRI for three weeks last July/August where she wasgiven training in BREEDPLAN and herdMASTER andvisited a lot of BREEDPLAN herds - particularly as theywere having ultrasound scanning done by Roger Evans.

Maria is now a BREEDPLAN guru. Her tasks in the next12 months are many and varied and include compiling inSpanish a number of items including Breed Notes, breeder instructions, BREEDPLAN report headings,BREEDPLAN promotion and herdMASTER promotion.Maria will also provide support so that breeders

understand how to use BREEDPLAN effectively. She willbe focussing on data quality.

We have set Maria an ambitious goal. She is aiming to increase BREEDPLAN usage in the Bustingorri group by 50% in the next twelve months. With some verylarge herds showing interest, this is entirely feasible.Watch this space!

Arthur Rickards

Maria Calafe� is expert in BREEDPLAN andherdMASTER.

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When you talk about North American(USA plus Canada) Herefords, the statistics are like telephonenumbers - over 23 million pedigreeanimals in the combined databases,7.6M weights and 4.6M calving ease scores. It is gratifying that the Associations involved have puttheir collective weight behindBREEDPLAN International.

Pedigree RegisterThe pedigree database of theAmerican Hereford Association(AHA) contains over 21 million animalrecords. This was formed by mergingdata from the American PolledHereford Association with that ofAHA. Unfortunately, initial attempts todo this by two USA-based companieswere only partially successful. That iswhen ABRI was engaged.

The ABRI's software identified andremoved data anomalies to enable aclean pedigree system to go intoproduction in 4th quarter 1999 onbudget and on time.

The AHA registers around 70,000herdbook cattle per year but over100,000 new Hereford calves are

added to the AHA database eachyear. The recording system is fast,robust and reliable.

Internet SolutionsThe AHA was an early user of ABRI'sInternet Solutions - for animal/member enquires and salecatalogues. This service regularlyreceives over 100,000 hits per month- by far the highest of any beef cattleassociation using ABRI's software.This basic service has now beenextended to include internetregistrations, inventory updates,collection of performance data andon-farm printing of AHA generatedreports. Those members who electto use the internet as their datasubmission method are able to usepre-built worksheets and batches.These worksheets already containthose animals which would havebeen pre-printed for them in AHA'spaper-based recording system. Inaddition, these members receivefaster turnaround of their data, asthey are automatically notified viaemail whenever new worksheets areavailable for their use, or whenupdated performance reports havebeen generated for them to print(also see p18).

Performance recordingThe AHA has a very strongperformance recording program withweaning weights captured onaround 68,000 calves annually.Over 2400 herds are involved andthese herds run 80% of all the cowson the AHA inventory. An across-herd genetic evaluation is run twice per year which alsoincludes the performance data from Canada. The combinedperformance database is five timeslarger than that of any Australasiangenetic evaluation conducted byABRI. Historically, this work hadbeen performed by the University ofGeorgia. However, a switch wasmade to BREEDPLAN in order togain the advantages of a fullyintegrated breed register whichprovides AHA with a high level ofcontrol over all of its computing.

herdMASTERA strategic focus of AHA is to movetowards a paperless recordingsystem. Consistent with thisobjective, ABRI's Saltbush Divisiondeveloped herdMASTER using thelatest tools from Microsoft. The newsoftware was trialled extensively byVern Raush of Rausch HerefordFarms whose on-farm database hasrecords on in excess of 20,000 cattle.

Vern is enthusiastic about the newproduct. Over 100 herdMASTERsystems have been purchased byAHA members in the last two years. Aweb-based version of herdMASTERwill be available in 2004 and actively

marketed to the small to medium-sized studs.

SummaryThe AHA is one of the largest beefcattle associations in the world. Afterworking with ABRI for four years, itsservices to breeders have beentransformed into world's bestpractice. The advanced dataprocessing system has empoweredthe AHA to develop aggressive plansfor increasing the market share ofHereford genetics in North America.

Arthur RickardsManaging Director, ABRI

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BREEDPLAN in North America

Overseas deve lopments

Craig HuffhinesExecutive Vice PresidentAmerican Hereford Association.

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Vern RauschRausch Hereford Farms.

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"I believe herdMASTER is theright solution at the right time forthe on-farm recording needs ofAmerican Hereford breeders".

"This proved to be the best decision thatAHA could have made"said Craig Huffhines.

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BREEDPLAN in South America

Overseas deve lopments

The Hereford Associations of bothArgentina and Uruguay have beenheavily involved in the introduction ofBREEDPLAN technology over the lastyear. This follows a visit to Armidale inMarch, 2002 by Dr Fernando Alfonsoof the Uruguayan Society and MaximoAyerza of the Hereford Association inArgentina. Both groups had previouslypooled data for a genetic evaluationconducted by the University of Georgia(UGA). On receiving a presentation onBREEDPLAN, the representatives ofboth countries were satisfied that thiswas the right technology for theHereford breed in South America.

Data sets from both Associations weresent to BREEDPLAN's Dr Brad Crookearly in 2003. A South Americandatabase was established and ABRIconverted the data from bothAssociations into the BREEDPLANformat. Brad then undertook anumber of across-country geneticevaluations and tabulated the resultsfor on site discussions.

In late April 2003, Brad made the longjourney to Buenos Aires (BA), wherehe was met by Juan Bullo and Dr.Daniel Musi on behalf of theArgentine Association and Dr Danielde Mattos, the then technical advisorto the Hereford Society in Uruguay.

During the next week Brad had astrenuous but rewarding program inboth Argentina and Uruguay. It

included a technical explanation ofthe BREEDPLAN technology,comparisons of the BREEDPLANresults with those from UGA, anoverview of BREEDPLAN servicessuch as the breed register and herdmanagement software, discussions ofthe steps in a systematic approach to

national breed improvement, visits toa number of leading Herefordranches and a visit to the INIA beefcattle research facility in Uruguay.This was a most valuable programthat helped to define howBREEDPLAN could be best used tobenefit Hereford cattle in thecountries visited. On his return, Braddid some fine tuning of the

BREEDPLAN parameters andcompleted the first productionevaluation of Argentine/UruguayanHereford data. This is the first timethat a single multi-trait evaluationmodel has been used on all weightperformance data from the twocountries. The analysis included animpressive total of over 78,000 birthweights, 200,000 weaning weightsand 237,000 post-weaning weights,producing BREEDPLAN EstimatedProgeny Differences (EPDs) andaccuracies on 8,000 sires and108,000 dams. The ArgentineAssociation released results to itsbreeders. The Society of Uruguayplans to participate fully in 2004 withits latest data (including over 10,000ultrasound scan and scrotal sizerecords) in a full multi-trait evaluation,releasing BREEDPLAN results tobreeders.

The ABRI is developing a long-termstrategy for implementing a wide rangeof BREEDPLAN and relatedtechnologies in both Uruguay and Argentina. This is very excitingnews for the Hereford breed in South America which will be able tolink with innovative BREEDPLANdevelopments elsewhere in the worldand with the North American Herefordassociations in particular.

Arthur Rickards

Dr Daniel de Mattos and Dr Brad Crook visit Horacio La Valle of �LasTranqueras� Hereford ranch in Argentina.

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Dr Brad Crook and Juan Bordaberry Herran of �El Baqueano� Herefordranch in Uruguay.

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Gaining market share in Southern AfricaSince the last newsletter we arepleased to report that the SouthAfrican Braford and Limousinsocieties have recently joined theBREEDPLAN International system.The six South African societies nowon BREEDPLAN represent 46% ofthe total beef membership in thiscountry. The Namibian Stud BreedersAssociation representing 18 breedsocieties has had their new systeminstalled, on time and according tocontract. Marcus O�Sullivan did ahuge job and the NSBA staff is now handling all registration andperformance functions. Thanks to theABRI team for all their hard work.

Dr Brad Crook recently spent 2 weeksin South Africa and Namibiaeducating society staff on the finer details of the BREEDPLANperformance system. Brad stressedthat the societies are now in completecontrol of all registration, performanceand evaluation functions. Thesocieties are very exited about the

opportunity to give an improvedservice to their members. Brad alsoused the opportunity to visit a numberof our breeders.

The herdMASTER program hassuccessfully been introduced into themarket and we now provide full-timeherdMASTER support to our clients.Clients have responded positively to the program and with strongsupport from Saltbush we expectherdMASTER to become the leadingherd management package in theSouthern African market.

BREEDPLAN in Southern Africa has

also combined forces with the largestAgricultural Journal (an Afrikaansweekly called the Landbouweekblad)to host the Landbouweekblad/BREEDPLAN bull, cow group andbull of the year competition. We havemanaged to convince one of ourlargest retailers, called Pick n Pay, tobecome the main sponsor of the

competition with R1 M ($200 000) overa five year period (Incidentally, Pick nPay recently acquired much of theFranklins chain in Australia). Werecently had our first prize-giving eventand the seedstock producer of theyear winner is Brian Angus (from theAngus society) who has won a trip toAustralia. Thanks to Mike Stephensfrom the Australian BIA who alsohelped with the competition.

There are many similarities betweenour countries in terms of productionsystems and conditions. It thus makessense for our societies to worktogether to strengthen genetic linksacross countries so that we canultimately combine our analyses.Finally, we South Africans arepassionate about our rugby union.Whilst this article is being written, therugby world cup is in full swing. TheBREEDPLAN system is used in manyof the countries participating in thisworld cup. I trust that you have alsoenjoyed the games and the best teamultimately won.

Michael Bradfield

Simmentaler bulls at Voightland Stud, Windhoek Namibia

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Michael Bradfield- BREEDPLANCo-ordinator in Southern Africa.

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14th worldherefordconferenceThe Australian Hereford Society and the Australian Poll Hereford Society will be hosting

http://breedplan.une.edu.au

DATE: Friday March 26 - Monday March 29, 2004INFO - WEB: w w w . 1 4 t h w h c . o r gINFO - Phone: 0 2 6 7 7 2 9 0 6 6

Overseas deve lopments - New Zealand focusB

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New Zealand fertility workPregnancy rate in beef cattle has alow heritability and hence is difficultto improve by selection withinpurebreds. It is however of sucheconomic importance, that mostserious breeding programs try to put some pressure on the trait. In BREEDPLAN this is done byusing a combination of the scrotalsize and 'days to calving' EBVs.Days to Calving is the 'femalefertility' EBV calculated from mating and calving records and malerelatives' scrotal readings.

It is now well accepted that femaletraits such as age at puberty andsubsequent pregnancy rate, aregenetically correlated to the scrotalmeasurements of male relatives.Much of this knowledge wasdeveloped in the 1980s and '90s and one of the groundbreakingexperiments in this area has beenoverseen by Dr Chris Morris andcolleagues of Ruakura ResearchStation in New Zealand. They set upan Angus selection line experiment in1984/85. This has a 'HIGH' lineselected on early puberty of heifers(age at first behavioural oestrus) andmale scrotal records. There is a'LOW' line, selected for late firstoestrus and a CONTROL line in the middle.

After nearly 20 years, the HIGH andLOW lines now differ by 69 days

(18%) in age at puberty in heifers,11% in scrotal circumference andover 5% in cow pregnancy rate; the HIGH line has the earlier puberty, larger scrotal circumferenceand higher pregnancy rate. Thisphysically confirms that femalefertility has a genetic component andprogress can be made by selectingon a combination of male and femaletraits. It also shows the magnitude ofchange when heavy (sole in thiscase) selection pressure is put onthese traits in a breed which is well regarded for its fertility. The heritabilities and correlationscalculated from these herds havebeen used, with Australian and otherexperimental results, in developingthe BREEDPLAN fertility EBVs.

As mentioned above, the herdswere selected only on fertility. Thishas, however, led to a small (4%)increase in Yearling weight for theHIGH line and also slightly lowermature cow weight.

I was pleased to hear recently thatthese NZ fertility lines are movinginto a new and important phase.Now that they have divergedsufficiently, they are assisting asearch for the genes explaining the reproductive differences. Theresearch group is currently in thefourth and final year of a project tobreed 400 head which are crosses

from the lines. DNA markers arebeing recorded and any associatedwith reproductive differences will bestudied more closely.

Brian Sundstrom

While you are thinking of fertilitymatters: You may be interested tohear that BREEDPLAN will introducein 2004, the use of AI data in thecalculation of female fertility EBVs(Days to Calving). Currently onlynatural mating is used. As with allfertility recording, it will be importantfor studs to carefully note like treatedAI groups and to record femalesculled infertile etc. The capturing offirst calf heifer fertility data isparticularly important. This isunfortunately missed by manybreeders at present.

Dr Chris Morris of RuakuraResearch Station.

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NZ Simmental and Charolais move to NZPBBThe NZ Charolais Society, based in Christchurch, made adecision some time ago to use Colorado State University(CSU) for its genetic evaluation services. Many of theleading Charolais breeders in New Zealand considered theEBVs from CSU to be inferior to those from BREEDPLANand voted with their feet. They have now establishedCharolais Breeders New Zealand Inc. (CBNZI) and basedtheir administration at NZ Performance Beef Breeders inFeilding in order to use BREEDPLAN services. The datafrom CBNZI is combined with that of the Charolais Society ofAustralia in an Australasian GROUP BREEDPLAN. Tworuns are expected in 2004.

Christchurch has been the administrative home of

Simmental NZ for almost 40 years. However, the SimmentalNZ office is moving to NZ Performance Beef Breeders. Thislandmark decision will add considerable strength to theNZPBB operation. It also means that Simmental NZ willhave access to a diverse and skilled administrative resourceat NZPBB to help take the breed to new heights in the NZmarket. It is estimated that 95% of the beef pedigree andperformance recording in New Zealand is now beingundertaken out of the offices of NZPBB. This move isconsistent with worldwide trends for breed societies torationalise the use of resources to remain competitive. Infact, NZPBB has been so successful it is setting an exampleto the rest of the world. This is a great credit to the diplomacyand skill of NZPBB Manager, Murray Meads.

Overseas deve lopments - New Zealand focus

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Beef breeding herds in NZ are underincreasing pressure from other land-based enterprises - forestry, sheep,beef finishing and dairying, to name afew. Breeding cows are seen to havelower returns. While there isagreement that cows help maintainpasture quality and reduce parasiticloading by acting as mower, baler,hayshed and self-feeding device, thereis no hard data to financially evaluatethese 'hidden benefits'. Breedingenterprises are therefore dis-advantaged in gross margin analyses,and continued effort is needed toimprove their efficiency.

In beef production systems,researchers estimate 65% - 85% of the total feed is consumed bybreeding cows and half of this is formaintenance. The farmer receives noreturn on this very significantmaintenance feed cost. It is a fixed cost. Therefore reducing this overhead will have significantimpact on profitability. More efficient conversion of feed to productis an issue for calf producers andfinishers. Finishing animals out ofparents selected for feed efficiencywould generate greater profit pertonne of dry matter consumed.

There are a number of ways ofexpressing and measuring feedefficiency in beef cattle. RecentAustralian, USA and UK research hasconcentrated on Net Feed Intake (NFI)as an efficiency measure. (AustralianBREEDPLAN has taken this throughto having NFI EBVs). NFI is theamount of feed an animal eats, aboveor below that expected for its weight

and growth rate. For a given liveweightgain, some animals will eat more thanexpected and some less - these latterones are more efficient in terms of NFI.With NFI, more efficient cattle can beselected within any weight range.

Associate Professor Steve Morris atMassey University is currentlyconducting a Meat NZ funded trial,investigating NFI under pastoralconditions. There are severalobjectives: - To evaluate Australian sires with

known NFI EBVs, to see if their EBVs are valid under NZ pastoral conditions.

- To devise systems of testing for NFI, if these EBVs are proven to be valid.

- In tandem with the NFI trial, to validate 600-Day Wt and Milk EBVs. By running the trial on four properties, the final objective will also be able to include an estimate of the relative impact on slaughter weight of Sire EBV and pre-weaning environments.

The project is generating calves fromAngus cows using six lines of Angusbulls (four bulls per line). These lines are:

- High and low 600-Day Weight EBVs.

- High and low Milk EBVs.- High and low NFI EBVs.

Because of delays in importing semenfor the NFI sires, calves generatedfrom these bulls arrived at Massey ayear later than calves from the growthand maternal lines.

The calves born on the four breedingproperties were weighed and taggedat birth. They arrived at Massey afterweaning and grazing feed intakeswere measured using slow release n-Alkane capsules. The fast growinggroup of steers is being slaughtered atapprox two years of age, and the slowgroup at two and a half years (Seefigure 1). Heifers were mated to calveas two year olds and their milkproduction has been measured usingthe weigh-nurse-weigh system.

Preliminary results from year oneborn calves (growth and maternallines only) to date show:- There is little difference between the

growth and milk lines with regard to the onset of puberty.

- Raw data indicates that there is a 24kg difference between the high and low EBV growth lines for the fast growing group and a 12kg difference between the high and low EBV growth lines for the slow growing group. Most of this difference was there at weaning.

- The high and low milk lines were similar for growth but were behind both the high and the low growth lines.

- There was a 25kg precalving difference in weight between the high and low growth heifer lines, no difference in weight between the high and the low milk heifer lines, which were in turn lighter than both the high and low growth heifers .

Russell Priest

Feed Intake trial

Russell PriestMeat and Wool Innovation BeefGenetics Co-ordinator

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Figure 1 - Target liveweight profiles

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Fine tuning cattle to the environment

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"BREEDPLAN figures on breeders havedivulged a few secretsenabling the BumperDroughtmaster herd at"Rockybank", Mitchell to be fine tuned to the environment.

The environment at Rockybank is considered to be suitable only for breeding,with a stocking rate of 1 cow to 45 acres in phosphorous deficient country. Inthis environment it is a challenge to get females to calve at 2 years of age andevery subsequent year thereafter.

These hardships have led to some interesting discoveries by analysing theBREEDPLAN figures of the successful cattle.

In such an environment, females with high EBVs for 400-day growth (the periodof joining) have trouble conceiving because they have not satisfied theirrequirement for growth from the nutrition available. These animals will use alltheir energy to grow and not have the energy to conceive. This problem iscompounded if these heifers also have low fat cover EBVs.

The growth and fat factors of these heifers will override any effect of high EBVsfor Scrotal Size their sire may have. That is to say that it does not matter howstrong and well developed the reproductive tract of the heifers is, if the growthrate and fat are not matched to the environment then fertility problems willsurface. The good news is that due to the high heritability of these traits (400-day growth and fat EBVs) the problem can be rectified quickly once theproblem is recognised.

Having moderate 400-day growth and higher fat EBVs also gives your herd awindow to finish for the local trade. The volume of fat is also important in theBumper breeding herd. Late in the dry season, cows (and 1st calf heifers) mustlive on their fat reserves and often calve at this time. Cows that do not haveadequate fat reserves will not go in calf the next year. The use of Rump, Rib,and IMF fat EBVs can maximise the volume of fat a female can carry withoutcompromising (in some cases enhancing) market specifications. Evenness offat cover is also very important to maximise the volume of fat a female cancarry.

BREEDPLAN EBVs can be a very useful tool to streamline your genetics to yourenvironment. A combination of EBVs can be a better guide to fertility and henceprofitability. It is hoped this article may save some cattle breeders from going upa dry gully, and demonstrate the practical use of BREEDPLAN figures."

Jack KennedyBumper Droughtmaster Stud

Christian Duff

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The major point raised by Jack isthat successful producers selectbreeding cattle that are suited totheir environment and able toproduce progeny that meet thespecifications of the selectedtarget market.

Other Northern cattle producershave mentioned the importanceof milk production and maturecow weight in the environmentaladaptation of their breeders.Producers running breeders inless favourable environmentsgenerally find they are moresuccessful breeders than thosewith moderate milk productionand moderate mature cow weight.

From the above points it should benoted that BREEDPLAN is not justa tool used to increase the 600-day weight of progeny. It isalso a tool that allows cattlebreeders to fine-tune genetics foreconomically important traits intheir breeding cattle (fat, milk,mature cow weight etc) so theyare able to meet their breedingobjectives.

Christian Duff, Technical Officer,

Tropical Beef Technology ServicesPhone: 07 4927 6066

Following is an unedited letter received from Jack Kennedy (Bumper Droughtmaster Stud Mitchell, QLD),describing the practical and successful application of BREEDPLAN in Northern Australia

The Australian Brahman BreedersAssociation (ABBA), as with othercattle societies, has opened up their primary (herdbook, registered)and secondary (calf recorded,commercial) registers via a webenquiry database. This powerful andeasy to use search facility allowsinformation to be accessed underfour titles. These being:1. Animal Enquiries - Any animalrecorded on the ABBA database canbe accessed under this search title.The search criteria includes animalname, stud book number, calvingyear, horned status, location etc.

2. EBV Enquiries - This search isbasically the same as the animalenquiry search facility but it includesthe added benefit of allowing you tosearch for animals that fit within arange of EBVs that suits yourproduction system and breedingprogram.

3. Member Enquiries - ABBAmember details can be accessed

through this facility. The searchcriterion includes surname, studprefix, stud number, postcode, zoneetc. Members that fit the selectedcriteria will be displayed with theircontact details.

4. Sale / Semen Catalogues - Thedetails of many ABBA sales areincluded under this title throughoutthe year. The sale details arenormally listed here well before theyare available in hard copy form. This

allows those interested to viewpedigree and performance (EBVs)information on sale animals wellbefore sale day.

The growth in use of the web enquirydatabase has been outstanding. Inthe 2002 - 2003. The ABBA webenquiry database was visited by5263 unique computers with 211,097transactions recorded. This is a160% increase in pages displayedfrom the ABBA database in just threeyears (See figure 1).

The annual Rockhampton BrahmanWeek Sale (RBWS) has beenregularly displayed on the online salecatalogue section of the webdatabase facility. In the period the2003 RBWS was posted on theonline sale catalogue section it alonewas visited by 685 unique users with 35008 pages of informationviewed. To put this in perspective itrepresents 20 pages viewed by eachunique user or 778 pages viewed perday leading up to the sale.

Commercial and stud producers alikeare encouraged to use the webdatabase search facility of theirassociated breed to help in theirselection decisions. They can beaccessed under the search facilitytitle on the BREEDPLAN website(http://breedplan.une.edu.au)

For further information contact therelevant breed society, ABRI or myself.

Christian Duff

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Tropica l b reed deve lopments

Figure 1 - Use on ABBA web enquiry database.

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Rapid growth in ABBA web enquiry database

From 1997 to 2002 the MLA* funded, Southern Multibreedexperiment, was conducted at Hamilton Victoria, (picturedbelow) and Struan (SA) research centres. There were alsomany cooperating commercial properties. This work provideddata for Australia's first multibreed adjustment table in early2003. This table allows the birth, growth and carcase wt EBVsof Poll Hereford/Hereford, Angus, Limousin and Simmental tobe put on the one base. (See BREEDPLAN News 2003 orhttp://breedplan.une.edu.au).

Since then, industryorganisations havesought funding fromMLA to carry on theF1 females togenerate data formaternal EBVs. MLAhas responded to thisand I am pleased to report this work is underway. Over 300F1 females from P/Hereford and Angus cows by AngusP/Hereford, Limousin and Simmental sires have beenretained. These have been joined by AI to Shorthorn,Charolais and Limousin sires with high accuracy EBVs andlinks to other projects such CRC work (page 11). As well ascollecting the maternal data, this should enable Shorthornand Charolais to be added to the Multibreed adjustment table.

Brian Sundstrom

MLA* research support ing BREEDPLANB

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Towards maternal multibreed EBVs

*MLA co-funding the enhancement ofcattle breeding technology services.

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The Final Report on the "Belmont"Crossbreeding Project, which analysedperformance of a range of breeds andcrosses under low to moderate subtropical environmental and parasitestress, has now been completed.

From 1992 -97, the project generated2,600 animals from 30 breed groupsand their crosses, and measured a

range of production and adaptationtraits. The project estimated theoptimal breed composition for a range of production systems andbreeding objectives.

This confirmed industry expectationsregarding needed higher content ofadapted (Bos indicus) genetics athigher stress levels. The best way to

achieve this depends on what traitsare important, and what parasitesare present.

Summary and full reports are availablefrom Kishore Prayaga at the TropicalBeef Centre, Rockhampton.kishore.prayaga@csiro.au

Rob Banks Genetics Research Co-ordinator, MLA

Final report - Belmont crossbreeding program

Recently MLA sponsored a National Beef GeneticsExtension Team to recommend ways of speeding up geneticimprovement in the Australian beef industry. MLA isconcerned that although we have world class genetictechnologies, genetic progress in herds is not fast enough.

Earlier this year the Management Committee of theExtension Team - Don Nicol, Bob Freer and myself -delivered to MLA a 'Foresight Plan' suggesting initiativesto fast-track genetics extension. In the next year you willsee initiatives from this plan, including a series of BeefGenetics Expos. Contact me for times and locations. Oneconstraint to adoption of genetic technologies weidentified, was the need for better 'proof' that they delivermore profit to breeders and members of the supply chain.A 'Proof of Profit' workshop was therefore conducted,where breeders, researchers and extension peoplepresented information on their 'pet' genetic technologies,highlighting the profits and proof they work. Technologiesranged from EBVs and indexes to crossbreeding, genemarkers and TGRM (Total Genetics ResourceManagement). The workshop concluded that for

technologies such as EBVs and crossbreeding there is awealth of information demonstrating their effectiveness,but this has not been well publicised. Participantstherefore strongly urged continuous demonstrations ofEBVs etc working.

The Proof of Profit workshop was the start of a process todevelop material to use in promotion. We are also looking for'champions' prepared to say the technologies work. If you ora bull buying client have a good news story, we would love tohear from you. Genetics affects the whole supply chain so ifyou know a lotfeeder or processor prepared to speak out, wewould be keen to talk to them - we need a pull through effectfrom the processing end.

In the next issues of BREEDPLAN News we will publishoutputs from this project - stories demonstrating that geneticswork. If you have any comments or would like to volunteer a'champion' or just good story please let me know.wupton@pobox.une.edu.au or write to AGBU, UNE,Armidale 2351.

Wayne Upton AGBU

Extending the value of genetic technologies

A major project for CRC II, is a studyof 'best bet' regional combinations ofgenotype and nutrition. There arefour sites across southern Australia,(Struan, South Australia, Wagenup inWA, Hamilton Victoria and Griffith,NSW). They are each testingnutritional options relevant to theirregion, allowing lines of steers ofdifferent genetic potential (for carcasetype) to be grown at different rates,and finished for various markets.

The NSW site is "Bringagee" station(Ag Reserves Australia), near Griffith.

Groups of 500-700 Hereford cowshave been involved at each of 5matings for Spring and Autumncalving groups, to the followingSire types. Angus - High Yield % EBVs (Ay)Angus - High IMF % EBVs (Am)Angus - High Yield % and IMF %

EBVs (Aym)Wagyu Black and Wagyu Red Charolais and Limousin

After weaning, the steer progenyeither follow High or Low growthpaths to reach 400kg av feedlotentry (Cargill's Wagga) at either 13or 19 months of age. In spring 2003,they completed 4 of the 5 weaningsand the second slaughter. Thedrought has forced some of thecattle to be dispersed during 2003,many to Grafton Research Station

The last issue of this newsletter gavesome birth and weaning data. Thistime we look at some early carcaseresults (table 1) for the Angus breed

groups in NSW. For the Europeanand Wagyu crosses, the numbers area little low for publication at this stageand only general comments aremade. The results have not had finaladjustments and are provided here toshow some trends

The first pleasing trend is that theAngus sire carcase EBVs for yield%and marbling, seem to be predictingoutcomes well (table 1). TheEuropean crosses are showing

expected higher yield% and lowermarbling trends. The Wagyu crosses,perhaps a little surprisingly to some,have yield%, marbling and eating

quality scores similar to the Anguscrosses. This seems to endorseindustry experience that short fed,first cross Wagyu X lower marblingbreeds, do not display high marbling.

As these projects progress, furtherinformation can be obtained fromthe project leaders indicated:Struan*, South Australia mick.deland@saugov.sa.gov.au, Hamilton* Victoriajohn.graham@agric.vic.gov.au and Griffith, NSWjohn.wilkins@agric.nsw.gov.au * Also project leaders for multibreed work, Pg 10.

Brian Sundstrom

CRC* research l inks to BREEDPLAN

11http://breedplan.une.edu.au

*CRC - Co-operative Research Centrefor the cattle and beef industries. A research grouping of NSWAgriculture, CSIRO, QDPI, Universityof New England.

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Regional growth path studies

Angus sire line AY AYM AM

Yield % 67.8 67.5 67.0

IMF% 4.1 5.1 5.8

MSA Eating score 62 68 69

Table 1 - Raw averages for progeny of three angus sire lines, from Hereford cows.

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Steers after feedlot finishing.

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- The Pestivirus vaccinedeveloped in early CRC research by NSW Agriculture, has beencommercialised by CSL and waslaunched at CRC HQ in Sept '03.There are applications in breedingherds and feedlots.

- Flighty heifers harder to AI. CRC

research on flight time and its effecton meat quality and steerperformance, has been in previouseditions of this newsletter. A recentcorrelation with flight time reportedby Northern CRC research team, isthat fast flight time heifers displayoestrus less clearly for AI.

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In brief - other CRC research

In the last BREEDPLAN News wereported on the first results from afield test of Insulin-like Growth factor I(known as PrimeGRO� IGF-I) inBREEDPLAN herds. Blood samplesfrom more than 7,000 calves wherecollected at or around weaning, withsome older animals also included.We have now analysed all our data,which included the ultrasound scandata on these animals. Unfortunatelywe did not get all animals scanned asplanned due to the severe droughtconditions on many farms. However,by combining the information fromother relatives recorded in previousyears we could complete the analysisand can now report the results.

IGF-I in calves at weaning ismoderately heritable, our estimatewas 0.39 ± 0.05. In yearling theheritability was greatly reduced (0.11± 0.06). We therefore recommendtaking IGF-I blood samples at orbefore weaning to give the bestgenetic responses. Our analysis alsoshowed that selection against bloodserum IGF-I concentration will reduceall measurements of fat (includingmarbling) and increase growth rateslightly. However, as these geneticcorrelations are not particularlystrong, we found plenty of animalswhich went against the overall trend.

The most encouraging result of allwas the high genetic correlationbetween IGF-I and Net Feed Intake(NFI). This correlation was estimated

as 0.63, but still with a large standarderror of ±0.27. Selection againstblood serum IGF-I at weaning willresult in progeny, which for the sameweight and gain on a feedlot ration,will eat less than expected. ie: theyare more efficient.

From the estimates of therelationships between IGF-I and NFIwe predict that selecting the bottom35% of young bulls on IGF-I tobecome sires will result in progenywhich eat about 0.07 kg per day lessin a feedlot trial (10 MJ per kg feed)compared to the average bull'sprogeny. This benefit is a little morethan half of what you get if youactually did a feed intake test on allthese young bulls for NFI, but at afraction of the cost. Using informationon all relatives, as common inBREEDPLAN, will increase thebenefits further. Of course, we don'tadvocate single trait selection,however, our results are a clearindication that IGF-I is a goodindicator trait for NFI and is much cheaper to record than NFIdirectly. AGBU will now process theaccumulated data and transfer it to theBREEDPLAN database. We will alsoundertake the necessary work to haveIGF-I and NFI records included in the multi-trait BREEDPLAN geneticevaluation system by mid 2004. Withadditional data we will then be able toinvestigate the links between IGF-Iand the female reproduction trait �daysto calving� and from additional CRC

data the genetic link with carcase andmeat quality traits.

As there is an indication that NFI isslightly negatively correlated withmeat tenderness this might be true forIGF-I too. It is important to know this.Data currently collected in the BeefCRC-II will soon provide us with thegenetic parameters for tropicallyadapted breeds.

Hans Graser Director

Animal Genetics and Breeding UnitAcknowledgments: The collection ofsamples was funded by MLA andundertaken by NSW Ag technical staff.Primegro Ltd, which has an exclusive licenceto market the patented PrimeGRO� IGF-Itest, funded the analysis of the samples. MrMark McKenzie from Primegro can becontacted for collection kits and details oncost of test on 08 8354 7791.

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Research and deve lopment at AGBU

Blood test card are dried beforesending away for analysis.

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In Sept 2003, the Beef ImprovementAssociation of Aust. awarded DavidJohnston a fellowship recognising hisoutstanding contributions to geneticimprovement in the beef industry. Theseawards are nominated by BIA branches,in this case Albury Wodonga. Davidcompleted a Ph D at the University ofGeorgia in 1992 and has since beenbased at AGBU as beef genetics projectleader. During this time he has hadmajor involvement in the R&D for mostnew features in BREEDPLAN. Some of

these he writes about on the adjacentpage. Others which come to mindinclude: the fertility traits; mature cow wt;combining scan and abattoir data forcarcase EBVs and multibreed EBVs .Hehas also been a project leader in keyCRC genetics programs, helpingintegrate these into BREEDPLAN.Somehow he finds time to accept manyspeaking engagements. These arealways well presented with great slides -a career in the dramatic or graphic artswould also have been a possibility!

Well done David - it's a privilege to workwith such a professional!

Brian Sundstrom

BIA fellowship for David Johnston

David Johnston

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IGF-1 blood test improves NFI EBVs

Interest in BreedObject $Indexes has continued to growthrough 2003, with a number of significant developments:

- The Australian Brahman Breeders' Association (ABBA)published its first $Index in May. The $Index targets a self-replacing herd producing Jap Ox grass-finished by 32months of age. A pleasing genetic trend for the breed isevident, based on results from the June 2003 BrahmanGroup BREEDPLAN analysis (Figure 1). The ABBAtechnical committee, Christian Duff & AGBU have recentlybeen working towards further refining the $Index.

- The Charolais Society launched twonew $Indexes.

- Two large northern Aust. pastoralcompanies, Stanbroke and AustralianAgricultural Co. developed $Indexes

customised for their operations. The AACo $Index is fortheir Gulf Composite herd. Their animal and EBV searchoptions through BREEDPLAN, are similar to those nowused by many of the Breed associations.

- 17 $Indexes, in widespread use in the Angus, Hereford,Limousin, Murray Grey, Poll Hereford, Shorthorn andSimmental breeds, were also updated.

Steve Barwick

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Research and deve lopment at AGBU

*AGBU is a joint venture of NSWAgriculture and the University of NewEngland. They are responsible fordeveloping and maintainingBREEDPLAN software.Ph: 02 6773 2055Web: http://agbu.une.edu.au

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$Index use grows

Figure 1 - June 2003 Brahman Group BREEDPLAN analysis.

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With version 4.1, BREEDPLAN began including geneticinformation (EBVs and EPDs) on immigrant sires, dams andembryos, from overseas sources. Initially this was confinedto weight traits only. However, expansion of systemsoverseas has increased the number of traits on which EBVsare available. Unlike BREEDPLAN which analyses all traits(except calving ease) in a single multiple-trait analysis,EBVs from foreign sources are generally derived from anumber of separate evaluations. BREEDPLAN wasdesigned to use this information as a 'starting value' untilsufficient data were collected to adequately reflect theimmigrant individual's performance locally.

Recently, however, feedback from breeders has suggestedthat BREEDPLAN was over emphasising the foreigninformation at the expense of local information. Research atAGBU revealed that because of the conflicting methods ofevaluating multiple traits as either one joint analysis, or anumber of single and multiple traits, has exacerbated thisproblem. A modified method for incorporating thisinformation may be included for the next GROUPBREEDPLAN analyses. Breeders will be notified when thisis implemented. Less emphasis will be given to foreigninformation, particularly that of extreme overseas EBVs.

Imported sire information

New StockTake software is undergoing trials beforerelease to BREEDPLAN users on a regular basis.StockTake identifies key performance indicators (KPI) atbreed and individual herd levels within a breed. At thisstage KPIs have been established as those that predictdifferences in genetic progress between herds in a breedstandard $Index for a given time period (e.g. 1995-2000).The KPI identified from our research to date, have usuallybeen variables closely in line with the genetic theory (e.g.genetic superiority of sires used). In addition to the KPIsidentified for a breed/$Index combination, StockTake alsocomputes statistics for other variables of use to breeders(e.g. average inbreeding level, age at first calving, AI andET usage).

The delivery of StockTake reports is now being developed(e.g. web graphics, confidential herd reports). These willbe able to be produced at the completion of the eachBREEDPLAN run. Reports will allow breeders tobenchmark their genetic progress against other herds intheir breed and use the KPIs to identify focus areas forfuture breeding programs. StockTake software wasdeveloped by AGBU in our MLA BGEN.100 project.

David Johnston

Benchmarking

AGBU news continues Page 14

Kay Payne has one of Australia'slongest histories of performancerecording, and a very highly regardedherd. She began recording her "Elite"Poll Hereford herd in 1967, was a trialBREEDPLAN herd in 1983/4 then afull BREEDPLAN participant since itscommercialisation in 1985. The herd of300+ cows, is run near Scone NSW.Commercial and registered cattle arerun and recorded together - nofavouritism! Bulls and replacementsare kept from either on merit. In the1990's most of the commercial steerswere sent through an alliance tofeedlots to obtain feedback for theheavy domestic market. In recentyears, apart from last year's drought,grass finish at home for the EU markethas been more profitable. Steersachieve this by 12 to 20 months,depending on seasons. 15 months isthe target to average 250kg dressedweight. I recently attended Kay'sannual bull sale (conducted by thebuyer friendly Helmsman system), andpass on some replies to questions Iasked as we walked through herexcellent '02 bull drop:

The cattle are at the top end ofBritish breed muscling. AverageEye Muscle EBVs for the '02 bullswas 2.7 which is in the top 10% ofthe Poll Hereford breed. How didyou achieve this, visually orthrough EMA EBVs and scanning?"Mainly the latter" said Kay "Visualassessment is less reliable, even withvery experienced assessors. Thecarcase EBVs are more certain, andare now much better to use since theyhave been expressed on a steerweight basis."

Does calving ease worry you whenyou select for higher muscling? "Ikeep a close eye on birth weight andcalving ease EBVs of course, and find the calving ease EBVs very goodonce accuracy reaches reasonable levels. Of the visual features affectingcalving, I feel skeletal structure of the calf is more important thanmuscling", commented Kay. "TheNSW Agriculture Angus musclingselection lines at Camden have shownno increase in calving difficulty despitebeing 1.5 muscle scores apart. The topline cattle averaging C+ are still veryfunctional and free calving. The steershave made an extra 15 -20c/kg live wtcompared to the Lowline (D-) at thesame weight and fat cover".

How about non genetic influenceson calving, particularly first calfheifers ? "I think nutrition during the

first three months of pregnancy has abig influence. If nutrition is poor then,the heifers compensate by setting upa bigger blood supply to preservenutrition of the foetus. Then if they areon good feed for the last three monthsthey can produce very big calves. Thisleads to increased calving difficultyfrom bigger calves and less well grownheifers . Given our erratic seasons, it ishard to control heifer nutrition at times,but at least if you are aware of thisconcept, management can aim atminimising problems".

A testimony for the muscling andcarcase quality of the "Elite" steers,was a second placed pen of two, hoofand hook, in the recent Scone carcase competition. This includesmostly specialist crossbreeders,ensuring a tough competition.

Brian Sundstrom

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Muscling and calving ease in British breeds

Muscl ing and ca lv ing ease

!

Kath Donoghue has joined AGBU as a BeefGeneticist. Kath comes from Coolah, NSW,where she had close association with her family'sToolangatta Hereford stud and has a smallregistered Hereford herd of her own. Kath received a Junior Research Fellowship fromMLA to the University of Georgia in the USA.There she completed her Masters on thefeasibility of an international genetic evaluation for

Charolais across Australia, N Z, Canada and theUSA. Her PhD was on combining AI and naturalservice data for fertility EBVs (see page 6). At AGBU, Kath will investigate an internationalevaluation for Limousin and Charolais acrossAustralia, New Zealand, Europe, and USA. Shewill also conduct research for internationalBREEDPLAN clients including US Salers andHereford Associations in USA and Canada.

AGBU news continued - New geneticist

Kay Payne, �Elite� Poll Herefords. LEFT - Muscle seams very evidentin the stifle area of this PollHereford bull.

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Stud cattle breeders have longdreamed of predetermining thegender of some matings. Where AI isbeing used, sex sorted sperm wouldbe the way to do this - how far hasthis technology advanced?

The most promising technology atpresent is developed by the UScompany XY Inc. They supportresearch in this field in manycountries including projects atSydney University Vet School. FionaHollinshead, who has just completeda PhD in Sydney, provided some ofthe following information. Other partsI have summarised from a phonediscussion with Dr Mervyn Jacobsonof XY Inc.

- The current XY Inc system uses amodified flow cytometer (originally forblood separation - see pic) to 'draft' orseparate the male and female sperm. Female sperm have slightlyhigher DNA content, which allowsseparation of sperm as they flow 'in single file' past UV laser and fluorescence detectors. Theyultimately flow into two separatecollection tubes. While this is done atan impressive 4,000/sec, it can stilltake approx. 15-20 minutes toproduce a 2 million sperm straw(depends on factors such as qualityof the sample/ejaculate). MostAustralian frozen semen straws have25 million sperm, aiming to 'deliver'15 m. active sperm on thawing. XY Inc have added technologydevelopments which allow successfullow dose insemination from straws aslow as 2 million sorted sperm.

- The sorting equipment is currentlyvery big and immobile ie best wherebulls are on site and fresh semen canbe collected, sorted and then frozen.The most common beef cattle use atpresent is therefore in big AI centres.US engineers hope more portableequipment will be available within afew years

- Fiona has also experimented withsex-separation of frozen-thawed and

liquid stored ram and bull semen. Inone case, liquid stored semen camefrom Rockhampton. Both techniquesshowed promise, but require moresemen to start with, as they containa lower % of viable sperm than freshsemen.

- XY Inc works with many domesticspecies including cattle, sheep , pigs,horses and dogs. Captive animalprograms include elephants anddolphins and some endangeredspecies where female numbers needrapid boosting. Some 150,000 'totallynormal' sex selected progeny havenow been born. The first cattle fromsex sorted fresh semen and AI, werein 1995, some of these have sincecontributed to further generations.

- While the current technologysounds slow and expensive, thepotential is enormous with forexample juvenile IVF programs. Veryyoung heifers, preselected on

BREEDPLAN EBVs, could produce50 or more eggs each and a straw ofsexed sperm can fertilise up to 400eggs! One of the large northernAustralian pastoral companies has recently tried this with 40 heifers,to multiply some valuable newcomposite lines. I hope to be able toreport on this next issue.

The XY Inc system is nowcommercially available in the UK andArgentina with the US, Mexico,Brazil, Canada, China and Japan tofollow shortly. Negotiations inAustralia and NZ are in progress,with commercialisation plannedwithin 1 to 2 years. It is hard topredict when sex sorted sperm willbe more widely used in the averagestud. Such technologies can improverapidly, but are also at timesfrustratingly slow. I sense things aremoving quite quickly, so watch thisspace or http://www.xyinc.com

Brian Sundstrom Br

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Sex selected progeny

Technica l deve lopments

Dr Mervyn Jacobson, CEO of XY Inc with the flow cytometer and some�sex selected progeny�.

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Saltbush Agr i cu l tura l SoftwareB

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The BREEDPLAN and Saltbushteams now provide breeders withthree ways to enter registration andperformance data and receivereports electronically. These areshown in the diagram below.Option 1 (See page 18)Is for smaller herds (say less than 70cows). You need just a web browser,

member number and password andaccess to Internet Solutions (Seearticle by Murray Scholz on page 18).

Option 2Is for larger herds and involves theon-farm installation of herdMASTERsoftware and submission of batchesof data via internet (see opposite).

Option 3Is an alternative approach for smallerherds using herdMASTER.Net. Itprovides a full herd managementsystem over the web at an economicprice. (Also described on theopposite page).

Some breeds have already reached90% electronic recording.

Towards paperless recording

SOS - Saltbush on-line support, for when you need helpAs part of Saltbush's on-going plans to provide more services toour customers, the Saltbush Web site has been upgraded toprovide many new features. It is currently being tested, and whenit is ready (late 2003) you will be able to appreciate these new services:

- Information about the latest product versions- Tips about getting the most from your

Saltbush product- Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

- A search engine for finding solutions for your Saltbush problems

- Download upgrades for current Support users- 24 Hour, 7 day a week on-line

support assistance

The help and information available via the SOS isavailable to all Saltbush Users that have a currently activeSupport and Maintenance Agreement (SMA).

Saltbush Agr i cu l tura l Software

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Customer feedbackabout future needs forHerd ManagementSoftware has resultedin the development of Saltbush's mostambitious developmentschedule ever. Manyreaders will be familiarwith our new package

"herdMASTER", initiallyreleased in 2002. A major

upgrade with many new features requested by users, wasrecently released. However, herdMASTER is not just aproduct for PC-based Herd Management, but the first in afamily of products that will be released progressively fromthe day you read this Newsletter. Let me introduce you tothe family members:

herdMASTER.NET on the WEBThis new product is aimed primarily at herds of less than70 cows, which covers the majority of stud breeders. Allyou need is a web browser, and you can log intoherdMASTER.NET on the Web. That is, you have the fullcapacity of an advanced herd management systemwithout having to outlay $1000 or so for the software. Youwill simply pay an economical annual fee through ABRI orparticipating breed societies.

herdMASTER PCThis is our popular on-farm; desktop PC or notebook PCbased Herd Management System for medium (over 70cows) to large producers. It is the product that stud cattlebreeders are upgrading to from Herd Magic and other herdmanagement systems. Users with a support agreementautomatically receive free upgrades - like Version 2, soonto be released and including a range of enhancementsrequested by our users. This will also include astreamlined version for commercial producers.

herdMASTER.NET ServerThis is a herdMASTER product with real grunt! Designedfor the larger or corporate producer, it has multiple-farmand multiple-user capabilities. It runs with a powerful SQLdatabase on a central machine with users connected via abroadband network. It includes the ability to receive andconsolidate performance data from remote herdMASTERPCs. If your enterprise needs a comprehensive andintegrated herd recording system, then herdMASTER.NETServer is for your company. Why not contact us now, whileherdMASTER.NET Server is under development, so thatwe can be sure it will meet your needs.

herdMASTER PocketPocket PC's are highly portable, calculator-sized devicescapable of storing a large amount of information. They

have small touch-sensitivescreens. We are developing aspecialised version ofherdMASTER to allow thesedevices to be used in the field to answer those ad-hocenquires. They can also be used to capture data from scales and Electronic ID readers. Of courseherdMASTER Pocket willhave the capability to transferyour records to and from otherherdMASTER systems.

herdMASTER FieldA variety of new technologies lend themselves for datacapture and retrieval in the field. These include deviceswith large touch sensitive screens and also devices thatare ruggedly built. They make ideal systems for fieldinstallations, such as for capturing data at the cattle yards.We are working with suppliers to produce versions ofherdMASTER PC and herdMASTER Pocket for these newtechnologies. Stay tuned for future developments in thisherdMASTER Field!

So there you have it! Saltbush is committed to providing atotal systems solution for the data information needs forlivestock producers covering quality assurance, NLIStraceability, performance recording and a registrationinterface. Before you commit yourself to a supplier for yourneeds for the next decade, consider these capabilities ofSaltbush:

- Pioneer of Herd Management Systems for 23 years

- Able to deliver integrated Web/Server/PC and Pocket systems. We can provide a system to suit you, not a system to just suit us!

- A team of ten staff including three software engineers specialising in livestock management systems.

- A division of ABRI, the pioneer of performance recording 33 years ago.

- Ability to customise systems for your needs.

You've got a business to run! Talk to the professionals, talkto Saltbush!

Bryce Little, Systems Development Manager,

Saltbush Agricultural Software

herdMASTER

Bryce Little

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herdMASTER developments at Saltbush

Technica l deve lopmentsB

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A number of Associations havealready been using BREEDPLAN'sInternet Solutions for their capture ofcalf recording/registration data overthe last year. Recently this servicehas been extended to also captureperformance data for BREEDPLAN(eg. Weaning data, Yearling data).

This method of data submission toBREEDPLAN is particularly suited to smaller herds, and has a number of advantages over paper-basedrecording of performance data�.- Validation and checking of data isperformed at data entry stage. Errors or warnings are displayed immediately resulting in 'clean' data being submitted to BREEDPLAN.

- Faster turnaround of your data (and subsequent availability of updated EBVs). Performance data is electronically transferred direct to your BREEDPLAN processor, with no need for re-keying.

- On-line summary/review screen of data prior to submission, enables easy detection of possible errors and omissions

- Drop down lists for fields ensure data integrity and ease of data entry.

- Permanent record of historic data submissions for your herd always available on-line.

- Ability to enter Mature Cow Data (weight, condition score) and live animal scan data (FATS, EMA, IMF).

This facility is currently availablefor Simmental, Murray Grey and

Limousin BREEDPLAN users inAustralia, and to a number of ABRI'sNorth American BREEDPLANclients. It will be progressively rolledout to more of the Australian andNew Zealand breeds over thecoming months. All breeders willneed is a home PC (with webbrowser) , and access to the internet.Access to these facilities is via yourBreed Association web site, usingyour Herd Letters / Member Numberand Password. Please contact yourBREEDPLAN Processor or yourBreed Association regarding accessto these facilities.

Murray Scholz

Submitting data via society web sites - Option 1 (page 16)

Example Data Entry Screen (Mature Cow Weights)

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Example Summary / Review Screen

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Example Data Entry Screen

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In Beef Production enterprises, it can often be difficult tosimply identify the major factors driving profitability.We often hear or read of cattle producers, gleefullyletting us know that they "�topped the weaner sales!" or"�sold 800 kg bullocks at an average of $X/hd".However, these achievements are very poor indicatorsof overall herd profitability.

The key to understanding the factors most influencing beefprofit is the same as for any other business - sellingwheat, widgets or hours of consulting time. That is, youmust measure and understand your costs and pricereceived per unit of product, and how many units ofproduct are produced. In beef production, the criticalfactors to measure are:

Costs to produce a kg of Beef cattle $COP/kgPrice received per kg of Beef cattle $Received/kgKg of Beef cattle produced per Ha kgBeef/Ha

These benchmarks are the critical profit drivers andcombine to make the Beef Profit equation:$/Ha = KgBeef/Ha x ($Received/kg - $COP/kg)

Benchmarking offers the opportunity to measure, separatethe components, clearly identify the strengths andweaknesses, and compare your beef business to othersso as to move forward with a focus on improvingprofitability. In my opening paragraph, the statementsinvolve quoting per head production or prices, while profitis the difference between price & costs and how much isproduced. If you topped the weaner sales but ran half thestock as your neighbour on an equivalent property, you areunlikely to be more profitable. Benchmarking wouldhighlight poor kg Beef/Ha and a high $COP/kg asweaknesses to work on to improve herd profitability.

At "Wirruna" we run benchmarking days for our bull clientsthrough consultants Holmes Sackett & Associates atWagga (Principal, Phil Holmes pictured). Benchmarkinghas helped our clients focus on the key profit drivers intheir beef businesses. The top 20% have average COP of81c/kg and the bottom 20% $1.24. Over the last 8 years ofour own Benchmarking, we notice that the more profitableherds are highly influenced by management. The moreprofitable herds tend to have lower $COP/kg and higherkgBeef/Ha. The resultant cow phenotype is moderatesize, with ease of calving. The high profit herd managersselect bulls with a balance of genetic traits and fearextremes, particularly growth traits. With the $Indexesranking these types of bulls highly, the past EBV selectiontechniques of these managers are being vindicated by the$Index rankings. It has put many of the genetic traits intoperspective and in particular it has highlighted the dangers in chasing extremes. Benchmarking encouragesassessing performance per kg or per ha, rather than $'sper head. Once you experience this paradigm shift, youlook at cattle breeding from a different perspective.

Ian Locke"Wirruna" Polled Herefords

locke.ian@bigpond.com (Ian is also on the ABRI board and itsNBRS/BREEDPLAN sub-committee) B

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Benchmarking

Dr Phil Holmes of Holmes Sackett & Associatesspeaking to Wirruna clients

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Benchmarking for stud clients

Wagyu is a breed on the move. In the 12 months to June30, 2003 the Australian Wagyu Association (AWA)registered 2963 cattle - a five-fold increase on the previousyear. During this period, most other breeds have seenregistrations decline due to drought. The AWA's profit for2002/03 came in at 27.3% of gross turnover - anoutstanding result. The Association held a BREEDPLANWorkshop in Toowoomba on November 14, 2003 for which100 people registered. There is a concerted programunderway to populate the AWA database with a wide rangeof performance measures, particularly carcase data. This isbeing assisted by an MLA PIRD grant. It is hoped that therewill be enough information recorded by mid- 2004 for ABRIto run the first Wagyu GROUP BREEDPLAN.

On November 15, AWA's 2nd World Wagyu Symposiumattracted around 200 delegates. Participants were pleasedto learn that the Japanese quota for live imports fromAustralia in 2004 should reach 21,000 head, most of whichwill be of Wagyu and Wagyu-infused cattle. A number offeedlots are now each running several thousand Wagyu-infused cattle that are aimed at high value markets. TheExecutive Chairman of the Twynam Agricultural Group,Christine Campbell, told the Symposium that of around15,000 breeding cows in the Twynam operation, 10% arenow committed to Wagyu matings. Symposium attendeesleft with a great sense of optimism. In many ways theSymposium justified its promotion as the "Coming of age"for the Wagyu in Australia.

Arthur Rickards

Wagyu newsflash

Limousin - EID alternative to tattooingThe Australian Limousin Breeders'Society (ALBS) is the first Australianbeef breed Society to accept NLIS eartags as the sole alternative to eartattoos as a means of "permanent"identification. The Society is well awarethat some cattle will lose NLIS tags butbreeders will continue to use large eartags for paddock identification and thechances of both tags falling outbetween musters is very low.

Even with tattoos and ear tags someidentities are lost in large herds whenthe ear tag falls out and the tattoo isunreadable. We have not changed ourprimary identification system of herdcode, grade, year letter and number butthe NLIS number is recorded on ourdata base and printed on the pedigreecertificate so the visually readable NLISnumber on the tag can be used toidentify the animal. Both our web andmanual registration systems allowmembers to record the Property

Identification Code (PIC) and theindividual NLIS number for each calfwhen it is submitted for registration. Wedo not allow rumen boluses as a meansof identification at this stage as the

number cannot be read without ascanner. If an NLIS tag falls out and hasto be replaced the owner must notify thesociety of the new NLIS number for thatanimal. We have one breeder inVictoria with over 200 cows who hasbeen successfully using NLIS tags inplace of tattoos in his calves for two

years. If breeders are unsure of the"permanent" nature of the NLIS tagsthey can still tattoo their calves but theymay use a shortened version with justthe year letter and number. Our

members have generally welcomed thedecision as it means they are gettingextra value from the cost of the NLIStags and they can do away with thelaborious and messy job of tattooingeach calf.

Alex McDonald CEO Australian Limousin

BREEDPLANBREEDPLAN INTERNATIONAL BEEF RECORDING SCHEME

C/- Agricultural Business Research Institute, University of New England, ARMIDALE 2351Ph: +61 2 6773 3555 Fax: +61 2 6772 5376 Email: breedplan@abri.une.edu.au

Layout and design of BREEDPLAN NEWS - Heather Frazier, ABRI Email: heather.frazier@abri.une.edu.au Ph: +61 2 6773 3185

The Australian Senepol Cattle BreedersAssociation is one of the latestassociations to contract its registrationand performance recording with ABRI.The recently formed associationconsidered the ABRI registration andBREEDPLAN as the best way forwardfor the breed.

Looking to the future the Associationhas the goal of using the ABRI Internetservices to maximise electronicregistration and recording and transferof data and to minimise the paper trail.It was initially hoped to go completelyelectronic, but the breed is currentlygoing through a development phasewhere most breeding is with importedfrozen embryos. Not all ET registrationcan currently be done electronically

Senepols are a tropical breed from theCaribbean island of St Croix.Developed from the N'Dama breed ofWest Africa and the Red Poll fromEngland, these tropically adapted BosTaurus cattle also carry a slick hairgene. The presence of one copy ofthis gene confers a sleek coat, heatresistance equivalent to Brahmansand good tick resistance. Being anadapted Bos Taurus breed,tenderness of their beef is a strengthfor northern crossbreeding. Asmentioned above, there is currently ahigh level of ET and also interest inJIVET (Juvenile In Vitro ET see p15).With a lot of imported US geneticmaterial at present, the US Senepolwebsite is heavily used for EPDs, but

it is soon hoped to have AustralianBREEDPLAN EBVs bolstered by theUS information, as done by severalother Australian Associations. www.senepol.com.au

Don NicolBreedlink Consulting

Senepol optimising electronic transactions

" !The Australian Angus Society hasaccepted EID for some time, but requiresa second form of permanent ID - tattooor brand. Several other societies aremoving toward wider EID use. BS

A Senepol infused composite bull.

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Soc iet i e s go ing e l ect ronic