Interest is growing in increasing Angus content for calves in northern Australian beef herds to help improve beef quality and maximise profitability.
Experts said these objectives would most likely happen through using Angus or Angus-derived bulls – in natural mating or artificial insemination (AI) programs – over Bos indicus cows to produce crossbred progeny.
CSIRO and Angus Australia are exploring funding opportunities to collaborate in a project aimed at investigating the potential for DNA pooling.
This is a cost-effective method applicable for using in large scale commercial herds to identify Angus genetics suited to the production environment in northern Australia by estimating the contribution of individual sires to traits of interest, for example coat type and heat tolerance.
The project would involve collecting phenotypes for traits related to adaptation and genomic profiles on 1000 Angus-cross progeny bred in northern Australia sired by registered Angus bulls.
It is envisaged information generated from this project will inform commercial producers when making Angus bull selection decisions for northern Australia.
It will also provide valuable feedback to Angus seedstock producers on the performance of their sires and genetics in the commercial settings of northern Australia.
