DNA.. What do you think of this one?

[cmf1]

Murray Grey Bull
Born- 2/22/2014
BWT- 80lbs
WWT- 546 lbs 205 adj
IGENITY PRODUCTION INDEX- 7.30
RFI- 7
ADG- 4
TENDERNESS- 10
MARBLING SCORE- 8
PERCENT CHOICE- 8
YIELD GRADE- 7
FAT THICKNESS- 6
RIBEYE AREA- 5
HEIFER PREGNANCY RATE- 5
STAYABILITY- 10
MATERNAL CALVING EASE- 5
DOCILITY- 6

Somebody who is more familiar with all the numbers and how they correlate.
what would you say his shortcomings are just on the numbers?
I'm well happy with the tenderness and marbling, never seen a 10 for stayability, seems to contradict the heifer preg rate a little.
I know it's just numbers and not the animal but I'm curious as to how others see them.
Thanks.

 

[tamarack]

The numbers on one alone don't mean a lot you need a group and test all and then see who stands out.

 

[branguscowgirl]

I personally would like a higher docility score for my cattle......If that is important to you, IDK.
I don't know about the rest.

 

[AllForage]

Does anyone have any experiences with the accuracies of these tests? They do interest me.

Cmf1, what are thoughts on the docility score? Does it line up with him or his calves?

 

[cmf1]

The DNA is relatively new to me being my second year to apply their numbers to real life.
So some of these numbers won't mean much to me comparatively for some time.
From what I see regarding docility, a 1 must be bat shyt crazy, and a 10 would be crawl in you lap gentle.
Of what I have had tested, 6-7 is where they seem to fall and I guess if you consider extremes the numbers seem to be a good indicator. No crazies at all and on some days like puppy dogs. not spooky but fairly independent.

The bull calf that the numbers apply to is on test now at MSU and is 9 1/2 months.
Sorry, I should have said that originally.
Test runs til June. He'll be 15- 16 months then.
With the numbers from the test I can do some comparing.
I have numbers on bulls sold last year as well and stay in contact with the owners so that will help compare when 2015 calves hit the ground and start developing.

EPD's from the MG reg. are not functional with most accuracies in the 50s-60s and not enough animals to improve them.
I figure the DNA is a better guess at progeny expectations than low ACC EPD's.

 

[cmf1]

The numbers on one alone don't mean a lot you need a group and test all and then see who stands out.

Most of the MG breeders that I know have gone to, or at least added DNA testing to try and achieve just that.
I think we have quite a few breeders from many different areas doing it now.

 

[Backbone Ranch]

Those are really great numbers. His carcass trait numbers look very good.

 

[cow pollinater]

On the dairy side of things we consider a genomic proof to be the equivalent to ten milking daughters. That's nowhere near proven but it's a good start.
If I were dealing with a small genetic pool like MG I'd be doing back flips to have numbers that looked like that on a bull. There is room for improvement but that's pretty solid ground to build on.

 

[tamarack]

The Canadian Shorthorn Association has a program on this year that they are looking to genetic test 250 PB bulls and they are paying most of the fees, they allow a purebred breeder to test 10 bulls for 10$ each. It will be interesting to see results when done. IMO this will be another way along with EPD to pick out the best breeding stock.

 

[toughntender]

Those are great numbers! The amazing thing is that calf was sired by a bull from 1978! Who said all of the the old bulls are junk. Yes his ADG could be a touch higher and his RFI a bit lower, but with a stayability rating of "10" his daughters should make for very productive cows.

 

[WalnutCrest]

I've always understood from Igenity that making cross-breed comparisons of one animals' ranks vs. another animals' ranks isn't how their numbers are intended to be used. I've always heard them say that you want to know where your animal ranks in terms of its breed.

So, if (for example) a breed's range for DOCILITY is 3-8, and your animal is an 7 ... then, your animal might be more calm than say, an animal who scores an 8, but is in a breed who's scores are all between 6-10.

In other words, there are quite a few traits / markers that haven't been identified and included in their analysis. In fact, I know if at least three tenderness-related markers that are well-studied in academia that aren't a part of the Igenity profile (yet).

So, it's possible that your animal might have all three of these other markers but get a bad Igenity tenderness score ... and yet be capable of producing tender beef.

IMO.

FWIW.

ETC.

 

[cmf1]

That brings up another question I'm curious about.
Zoetis or Igenity?
Do they use the same " markers" or technology?
Same processes?
One maybe thought of as more reliable than the other?
Is it all enough of an inexact science in your mind to not be useful at this point?
Do you think this is the way forward for progeny decisions in the industry?
Replace EPD's?
Thanks for the comments.

 

[UG]

Igenity customers can access their data via the Igenity website by getting login information by calling the Igenity customer service phone # ((877) 443-6489). Once you are logged on you can compare your cattle to others in the database, by "benchmarking" by breed, sex, etc. The last time I benchmarked against Murray Grey's the average Igenity score for MG's were:
RFI 7.2
ADG 5.96
Tenderness 6.64
Marbling 6.93
% Choice 6.86
YG 6.52
Fat 5.33
REA 4.60
HP 5.21
Stayability 7.21
MCE 4.66
Docility 6.49

So compared to the breed average CMF's bull scored especially good in tenderness, marbling, percent choice, and stayability. Don't forget that a higher score indicates greater genetic potential for that trait, so I prefer lower scores for RFI, fat thickness, and yield grade.

 

[Nesikep]

I'm not good with numbers yet, but I too would like a better weaning weight on an intact bull. 600 lbs @ 205 is my target for replacement heifers.

His other numbers look pretty good.

About docility, so much of your end product will depend on your management that getting a Doc 10 bull isn't going to make chances to a cowherd with a Doc of 2 for a LONG time.. The calves do a lot of the learning of being scared/mean from Momma.. The last 2 bull calves I kept I halterbroke effortlessly, and a lot of that is because going back to great-grandma they've all been pets. My little "devil" of a heifer calf is docile and tame, but just wants to do things her way