Back to the Basics with Bauer: How can we use genomics?

By Lance Bauer

We are starting a new blog series where I will get back to the basics and review beef industry technologies, why these technologies are used and answer our most frequently asked questions here at BBU. So let’s get “Back to the Basics with Bauer”. Today we are discussing genomics.

Genomics is the study of the genome. A genome is the complete set of DNA that an animal or person has. The study of the genome is a fairly recent development in the field of genetics. In the past few years more progress has been made in the field of genetics because of the ability to study the genome of an individual. With the new technology associated with genomics, a variety of tools are becoming available to beef producers. These tools are not new tools, but help to improve old selection tools that have been used for years. New technology allows for parent verification in animals that may be in a multi-sire pasture or a neighbor’s bull jumped the fence. In the case of genetic abnormalities, many times there are genetic tests that a producer can do rather than doing an extensive progeny test to determine which animals are carriers. Another new and exciting development is genomic-enhanced EPDs (GE-EPDs).  EPDs are a tool that has been around for a long time and relies on an animal’s own records, as well as the records of related animals, they also rely on how related animals are. With GE-EPDs, the relatedness of animals is more precisely known and can lead to more accurate EPDs. The fields of genetics and genomics are advancing more rapidly than ever and there are exciting things to come in the beef industry.