Genomics for Beef Cattle: What are the benefits?

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Genomics for Beef Cattle:

JASON REDING - SA Stud Book, jason@studbook.co.za

test. Genomic services provided to beef breeds associated with SA Stud Book allows breeders to take the next step in boosting the prediction of an animal’s true genetic merit, ensuring pedigree integrity and unravelling the status of single genes within your herd. The use of genomic information in beef cattle has a large impact on increasing the prediction accuracy of production and fertility traits that are lowly heritable, sex-limited and are only measured later in life (Berry et al., 2014; Van Marle-

Genomics in livestock has made tremendous advances in recent years. The ability to capture an animal’s unique DNA sequence has become a cornerstone of stud breeding in the local and international community. Over 50 000 DNA markers, called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), are analysed on a genomic chip (genotype) and is sometimes referred to as an “All in One” DNA

SANTA GERTRUDIS | Journal 2025

Köster & Visser, 2018). Breeders unfamiliar with genomics and genomically enhanced breeding values (GEBVs) must be scratching their heads and wondering what the benefit of genotyping your stud animals truly is. This short article will hopefully illustrate the impact of genotyping an animal, the effect of parentage verification and how genomics is integrated into a genetic evaluation to enhance the accuracy of breeding values. The South African Santa Gertrudis population currently have 699 genotyped animals of which 85% are cows and receives GEBVs monthly.

mismatch threshold of 1% is applied, where animals with less than 1% opposing homozygote differences are considered directly related. If the mismatch exceeds 1%, the parentage is flagged as a conflict, necessitating the discovery of the true sire. Accurate identification depends on the availability of genotyped data for all potential sires in the herd. When all sires are genotyped, the system can automatically resolve parentage conflicts and identify the true sire. Genomic testing enables robust parentage verification by identifying true parents when conflicts arise, provided the potential parent is also genotyped. This is particularly effective in cases involving multiple sires or unknown sires, as genotyping both offspring and sires can determine the correct lineage.

Parentage Verification The use of DNA Microsatellite markers for Parentage Verification is widespread across the livestock industry in South Africa but has limitations that can result in the incorrect identification of an animal’s parentage. The DNA Microsatellite test is not a true confirmation of …

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