Alberta Farmer ExpressArticles by Livestock Gentec - Alberta Farmer Express

Lots to see on cow forage tour

Livestock Gentec — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 19:14:27 +0000

Reading Time: < 1 minute Several on-pasture demonstrations will be held during a field day co-hosted by Livestock Gentec and the Lacombe Research Centre. The Aug. 22 event at the research centre will focus on better understanding the interactions among cows, forage, and genomics and on optimizing cow/forage production. The demonstrations include a multi-site legume tour; high- and low-vigour cows […] Read more

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Capturing value through livestock innovation

Livestock Gentec — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 20:55:13 +0000

Playing the Long Game: Capturing Value in Livestock Innovation is the theme of this year’s Livestock Gentec Conference.

Presentations include a look at what’s possible in genetic improvement in commercial beef cattle and the U.K. experience in increasing value in the beef chain. There will also be a panel on sustainable beef production along with presentations on communication, cost of production, innovation in the poultry sector, and traceability in niche markets.

The Oct. 13-14 conference is being held in Edmonton. More information on the conference and registration can be found at livestockgentec.com.

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What is genomics all about?

Livestock Gentec — Mon, 25 May 2015 19:25:20 +0000

The genetic sequence of the first cow was published in 2009. This milestone was achieved through an international collaboration with 300 scientists in 25 countries and took six years to complete. The cow sequenced was a Hereford… additional breeds have also been sequenced, including Holstein, Angus, Jersey, Limousin, Norwegian Red and Brahman.

This sequence information can be analyzed directly, used for comparing animals within a breed, or for comparing animals across breeds.

One category of genetic difference frequently used for comparison is Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms or SNPs. SNPs are used as genetic markers to track the ancestral heritage of regions of DNA or of individual animals. SNPs also can be used to predict the likelihood that a given animal will possess an individual or a series of desirable trait(s). The latter can only occur once an SNP or a collection of SNPs is linked to a particular trait.

In (Canadian Cattle Genome) projects, genotypes (the pattern of important SNPs), from a wide range of beef and dairy breeds will be used to develop accurate genomic prediction equations to assess the genetic potential of an individual animal.

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