The Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) is delighted to announce the expansion of the ABRI Extension Services team, with the recent appointments of Dr Fiona Macarthur and Alastair Rayner. These appointments further strengthen the organisation’s commitment to practical, science-based supp…

The Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) is pleased to announce the release of a multi-country Single-Step BREEDPLAN analysis for European Aberdeen Angus breeders. This major upgrade has been implemented in the May 2025 European Aberdeen-Angus BREEDPLAN evaluation.

The European Aberdeen-A…

The Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) is pleased to announce that Angus breeders across Argentina are set to benefit from several significant BREEDPLAN software enhancements implemented in the May 2025 Angus Argentino BREEDPLAN evaluation. These enhancements improve the predictive abil…

The Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) is pleased to announce that Murray Grey breeders around the world are set to benefit with the release of several major enhancements in the April 2025 Murray Grey BREEDPLAN analysis, including the introduction of Single-Step BREEDPLAN and a new Calv…

Earlier this month, ABRI was visited by a Brazilian delegation of breeders, vets and other beef industry personnel who are currently doing a tour of Australia and New Zealand. We enjoyed speaking to the group about ABRI’s products and services, including the BREEDPLAN genetic evaluation. We spent mo…

ABRI Chief Operations Officer, Christian Duff, and Extension & Engagement Team Leader, Catriona Millen, have recently returned from a trip to New Zealand. Their first stop was Christchurch, where they had constructive discussions over several days with representatives from Performance Beef Breed…

Are you passionate about livestock genetics and animal breeding? Do you thrive on supporting beef producers to drive genetic progress in their beef breeding operations? Join the Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI), a global leader in livestock genetic improvement services, as our Extensi…

After nearly 13 years, Paul Williams has finished up with ABRI Extension Services. Paul has been a valued member of the extension team over this time, and we will miss his advice, company, weather reports and planning work trips to ensure we are near a Saturday morning Park Run location. Thanks for …

The Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) is pleased to announce that Australian Brahman breeders are set to benefit from a number of significant BREEDPLAN software enhancements, released with the November 2024 Brahman Single-Step BREEDPLAN analysis. These enhancements improve the predicti…

The Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) is pleased to announce that Hereford breeders across Australia, New Zealand and Namibia are set to benefit following the implementation of several major enhancements in the October 2024 Hereford Single-Step BREEDPLAN analysis. These enhancements ha…

Dr Brad Crook, Manager Genetics Research and Development, has recently returned from a five week trip to the United Kingdom and Europe, where he met with both current and potential future BREEDPLAN clients. There were many opportunities throughout the trip for technical discussions with breed societ…

A number of enhancements have been implemented for Brahman breeders across southern Africa following the release of the joint July 2024 Brahman BREEDPLAN analysis for Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. These include:

Congratulations to Steve Skinner, who has been awarded the prestigious RW Vincent award by the Australian Registered Cattle Breeders Association (ARCBA) for his outstanding service to the Australian Cattle Breeding Industry. Steve was recognised at the Rabobank Beef Industry Awards night at Beef Aus…

The Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society have become the next breed society in the UK to incorporate genomic (DNA) information into their BREEDPLAN genetic evaluation, using a method known as Single-Step. This major upgrade was implemented in the February 2024 Aberdeen-Angus BREEDPLAN evaluation.

Dr. Brad …

The Charolais Society of Australia (CSA) and Charolais Breeders New Zealand (CBNZ) have become the next breed societies to incorporate genomic (DNA) into their joint BREEDPLAN genetic evaluation, using a method known as Single-Step. This major upgrade was implemented in the January 2024 Charolais BR…

The Beef Shorthorn Cattle Society has become the next breed society in the UK to incorporate genomic (DNA) information into their BREEDPLAN genetic evaluation, using a method known as Single-Step. The Single-Step BREEDPLAN evaluation utilises pedigree, performance and genomic information simultaneou…

A number of major enhancements have been implemented in the December 2023 TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation (TACE) for Angus Australia and the New Zealand Angus Association. These are outlined below:

• Increased weighting on SNP genotype information in Single-Step BREEDPLAN: The relative emphasis g…

The BREEDPLAN team at the Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) is pleased to announce the release of a multi-country Single-Step BREEDPLAN analysis for the Limousin breed across the Southern Hemisphere, released as the November 2023 Southern Limousin BREEDPLAN analysis.

The Southern Limou…

Brahman breeders across Southern Africa now have access to BREEDPLAN EBVs that include genomic (DNA) information, following the release of the November 2023 Brahman BREEDPLAN analysis for Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. This significant enhancement uses a methodology known as Single-Step.

The in…

The Australian Brangus Cattle Association (ABCA) has become the next Australian breed society to incorporate genomic (DNA) information into their BREEDPLAN genetic evaluations, using a method known as Single-Step. This major upgrade was implemented in the November 2023 Brangus BREEDPLAN evaluation.

The BREEDPLAN team at ABRI (Agricultural Business Research Institute) has worked collaboratively with Animal Genetics & Breeding Unit (AGBU), Australian Simmental breeders and the Simmental Cattle Breeders' Society of New Zealand to launch Simmental Single-Step BREEDPLAN. This major upgrade was …

Congratulations to the following herds who have achieved a 5 star Completeness of Performance (COP) rating for 2023. This achievement indicates that these herds are recording a large amount of pedigree and performance data for the majority of their calving drop.

Speckle Park International (SPI) has worked collaboratively with staff at the Animal Genetics & Breeding Unit (AGBU) and the Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) to incorporate genomic information into the calculation of Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) within Speckle Park BREEDPLAN, …

500,000+ genotypes are now passing through BREEDPLAN evaluations each month

After 30 years of extraordinary service to the Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) and the wider international beef industry, our Chief Operating Officer, and Manager of the International Beef Recording Scheme (IBRS), Steve Skinner has decided to retire. 

Mr Skinner commenced with ABRI a…

Now available for a number of Australian and New Zealand breed societies, these example sale catalogue notes have been designed to assist those of you who wish to provide an overview of BREEDPLAN information to your bull buying clients. They include a description of available BREEDPLAN EBVs and Sele…

A number of significant BREEDPLAN enhancements were implemented in the February 2023 South African Simbra BREEDPLAN analysis. These enhancements include:

The Hereford Cattle Society (HCS) has become the next breed society in the UK to incorporate genomic information into their BREEDPLAN genetic evaluation. This represents one of several significant enhancements delivered to the HCS with the release of their January 2023 BREEDPLAN analysis.

Members of…

As the volume and density of genomic information used in BREEDPLAN evaluations continues to grow, it has highlighted the need for a more efficient way to better account for SNP effects in the calculation of EBV accuracy. An advanced algorithm for accuracy calculations has now been developed. This is…

The National Association of Hungarian Charolais Cattle Breeders (Magyar Charolais Tenyésztôk Egyesülete) and the South Devon Herd Book Society (SDHBS) have recently become the first beef breeds in Europe and the UK, respectively, to incorporate genomic (DNA) information into their BREEDPLAN genetic …

A number of major enhancements were implemented in the December 2022 Single-Step BREEDPLAN analysis as provided to Angus Australia and New Zealand Angus. These are outlined below:

• Updated adjustment factors and genetic parameters: A complete re-estimation of genetic parameters for traits reported i…

BREEDPLAN are pleased to have welcomed Fiona Higgins to the team in July 2022. Fiona has recently completed her studies towards a Bachelor of Agriculture/Bachelor of Business at the University of New England. She grew up on Curracabark Herefords and Angus stud, located west of Gloucester in the uppe…

The Santa Gertrudis Breeders` (Australia) Association (SGBAA) has worked collaboratively with staff at the Animal Genetics & Breeding Unit (AGBU) and the Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) to incorporate genomic information into the calculation of Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) wi…

Good news for Brahman BREEDPLAN members with the introduction of a Gestation Length EBV into the Australian Brahman BREEDPLAN analysis in the November 2019 BREEDPLAN run. Gestation Length EBVs provide an estimate of genetic differences between the period from the date of conception (i.e. when the co…

The BREEDPLAN analysis has several different ways in which performance data from crossbred animals can be
handled, with different breed societies implementing different analysis types. These are:

1. Purebred analysis: No crossbreds are included. Only performance data from purebred animals is included i…

A number of significant BREEDPLAN software enhancements and the addition of a large amount of research data occurred in the February 2019 Santa Gertrudis GROUP BREEDPLAN evaluation, and will then be included in subsequent analyses. This included data from Northern Multibreed Research Database as wel…

A number of significant BREEDPLAN software enhancements and the addition of a large amount of research data will occur for the August 2018 Brahman GROUP BREEDPLAN evaluation, and then in all subsequent analyses. This included data from Northern Multibreed Research Database as well as the transition …

In 2018, both Speckle Park International and the Australian Senepol Cattle Breeders Association upgraded the software used to manage their pedigree and performance database to ABRI’s new generation of breed registry software known as ILR2.

A consequence of the upgrade to the new software is the tran…

Australian Wagyu producers are now armed with genomic-based data enabling more robust selection decisions with faster gains and higher accuracy through a shift to a new own-breed genetic analysis model.

The Australian Wagyu Association (AWA) has announced Single-Step Wagyu BREEDPLAN will be publishe…

BREEDPLAN is pleased to announce the release of a world first: a multi-country Single-Step BREEDPLAN analysis for the Hereford breed, released as the mid-October 2017 Hereford GROUP BREEDPLAN analysis. “This will allow the Hereford breed in Australia, New Zealand and Namibia to take advantage of cut…

Exciting times ahead for members of the Australian Brahman Breeders’ Association with the introduction of significant changes to the BREEDPLAN software used to calculate EBVs for Australian Brahman animals.  These changes were applied in the April 2017 Brahman GROUP BREEDPLAN analysis and is now inc…