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 have improved the predictive ability of the BREEDPLAN analysis, ensuring that Hereford BREEDPLAN is continuing to make the best use of data being collected by Hereford breeders across New Zealand, Australia and Namibia.

These enhancements include:

1. Increased weighting on genomic relatedness information in Single-Step BREEDPLAN

The relative emphasis given to pedigree relatedness versus genomic (DNA) relatedness information in the Single-Step BREEDPLAN evaluation has been modified so that stronger emphasis is given to the genomic relatedness. Some changes in the EBVs reported for individual animals have occurred, especially for those with a genotype but no performance records. Increased accuracy in the EBVs reporting for genotyped animals, especially those currently reporting at low to mid accuracy, have also occurred as expected. These outcomes vary across traits.

Please note that the value of performance data within the BREEDPLAN analysis remains unchanged. Performance data remains an important source of information to the BREEDPLAN analysis, and, given the need for a reference population of animals with both performance data and genomic information, one which is vital to the ongoing success of Single-Step BREEDPLAN for the Hereford breed.

2. Implementation of a new Calving Ease model

A new model has been implemented for the calculation of Calving Ease EBVs for Hereford BREEDPLAN. This has included a number of improvements:

• Updated software which will improve the efficiency of the calving ease analysis.
• The implementation of a Single-Step Calving Ease analysis. This means that, for the first time in Hereford BREEDPLAN, genomic (DNA) information is being used alongside pedigree and performance information (birth difficulty, birth weights and gestation length) to calculate Calving Ease EBVs. This is particularly beneficial for Hereford producers who have low incidences of assisted calvings for their herds, as genomic information provides an additional source of information for the Calving Ease analysis to utilise. Please note that the Single-Step Calving Ease analysis uses the same relative emphasis on pedigree and genomic (DNA) information described above.
• The formation of contemporary groups for Calving Ease has been re-defined to bring it closer in line to the formation of contemporary groups for birth weight. Specifically, contemporary group formation for calving ease now includes the use of breeder-defined management groups submitted for birth weights, and the previous seasonal age slicing will be replaced with a 45-day age slice. These modifications have caused an increased number of contemporary groups for calving ease within the analysis, including an increase in contemporary groups with no variation (e.g. all animals scored 1 for birth difficulty). As a result, there have been changes to which animals are analysed for Calving Ease (a number of animals are no longer be analysed, due to being in contemporary groups with no variation, while other animals have come into the analysis due to the 45-day age slice).
• The ability to fit genetic group solutions in the Calving Ease analysis. Genetic group solutions ensure that when new animals enter the Hereford BREEDPLAN analysis, their EBVs do not start at zero, but are instead assigned a starting value that reflects the average performance of other ‘similar’ animals (i.e. of the same age, country of origin and/or breed). The ability to include genetic group solutions has also influenced the Calving Ease EBVs of base animals.

Overall, the introduction of the new model for Calving Ease has led to changes in the Calving Ease EBVs and associated EBV accuracies reported for individual animals within the Hereford BREEDPLAN analysis. Results from the October Hereford BREEDPLAN evaluation has shown that there is an increased spread in Calving Ease EBVs (e.g. more animals at each extreme). Increased accuracy in the Calving Ease EBVs reporting for genotyped animals, especially those currently reporting at low to mid accuracy, has also been demonstrated. Changes in Selection Indexes have also occurred for Selection Indexes where Calving Ease EBVs have economic weighting in the Selection Index.

3. Revised Trait Weightings for New Zealand Hereford Association Selection Indexes

Given the BREEDPLAN evaluation updates, as described above, and the resulting impacts on EBVs, the emphasis placed on each EBV in the Hereford Prime and Beef Heifer Selection Indexes has been updated to maintain the intended purpose of each index.

4. Implementation of New Selection Indexes for Herefords Australia

Two new selection indexes, the Sustainability Production Index and the MSA Production Index, have been released in the October 2024 Hereford Single-Step BREEDPLAN analysis, and are available for Hereford Australia members to preview via their BREEDPLAN Herd Reports. The public release of these two new selection indexes is anticipated in conjunction with the November 2024 Hereford Single-Step BREEDPLAN analysis, where they will replace the four Selection Indexes currently published by Herefords Australia.

The enhancements implemented in the October 2024 Hereford Single-Step BREEDPLAN analysis have been possible thanks to the work of scientists at the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit (AGBU), a joint initiative of the University of New England (UNE) and the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI), with funding from Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA).