Simple example illustrating adjustment for merit of mates in a national cattle evaluation program.
One of the requirements for an effective progeny test is that each sire being evaluated should be mated to a random sample of females; however, random mating is seldom practiced by purebred beef cattle producers. A simple example involving 18 individuals (14 parents and 4 nonparents) was developed to help students enrolled in a junior-level animal breeding course comprehend how current genetic evaluation methodology, used on an industrywide basis, accounts for nonrandom mating by purebred beef cattle breeders for a maternally influenced trait such as calf weaning weight. With this example, students are able to visualize, algebraically, how a sire's direct and maternal genetic values for weaning weight are adjusted for merit of mates, permitting sires to be compared regardless of mating criteria used by purebred beef cattle producers.
Thrift
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Department of Animal Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40546, USA. fthrift@ca.uky.edu
D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods*; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D014886:Weaning