Breeding and Genomics

Breeding Hornless Cattle

A discovery by CSIRO scientists is central to the Australian Poll Gene Marker test, which is helping Australian cattle breeders select the best breeding cattle. It may also help the industry end the painful practice of dehorning beef cattle.

Immune competent cattle

We have shown that selection of 'immune competent' cattle can reduce the incidence of disease in Australian beef cattle, particularly in feedlots. It can improve animal welfare outcomes and reduce the use of antibiotics and chemicals in our food production systems.

Bull Fertility Update

Genomic technologies are expected to contribute the most for traits that are expensive to measure, e.g cattle fertility, feed efficiency, and those related to the immune response. Given that in Australia most of the cattle are bull-mated, the relevance of the male fertility indicators becomes unquestionable.

Effect of Selection on Breed Composition

Breed composition is known to affect production-related traits in beef cattle, with the relative proportion of Bos taurus and Bos indicus of particular relevance.

Genome-Wide Co-Expression Distributions as a Metric to Prioritize Genes of Functional Importance

Uncovering the genetic architecture behind complex phenotypes involves analysing the expression patterns of a large variety of genes that interact […]

POOLED GENOTYPING STRATEGIES FOR GENOMIC SELECTION IN COMMERCIAL HERDS

Animal selection strategies have achieved outstanding results during the past decades allowing the identification of high-performing animals. However, traditional selection schemes rely on full pedigree records, which still represent a major challenge for commercial and in particular, extensive production systems common to Northern Australia.

New DNA test for improving efficiency and reducing risks in Wagyu production systems

Now there’s a way of predicting how well Wagyu cattle will perform in the feedlot.