Genestar Testing

[novatech]

We also need to be careful when comparing Bull A with 6 stars to Bull B with 4 stars. Bull B may be the better "tenderness" bull because he may have the stars for the important genetics. There are "stars" being given for non-influencial markers.
Igenity takes all the markers known to date & "weighs" their importance & comes up with a 0-10 figure for tenderness. I read an article saying that their method was more useful than counting stars.

I wish they would get together and come up a standardized system.
Don't know if it's true but was told that Igenity had more money behind them and would eventually become the dominant co. But so far it looks like Genestar is out marketing them.

 

[OK Jeanne]

Igenity's "marker manager", Jim Gibb, is a fine gentleman.
We did business with him when he ran Frontier Beef,
before they sold out to Merial. However, the lab that
they used and still use made mistakes and was very
very slow. It was and is not Jim's fault IMO.
However, we have switched to Bovigen's genestar
system permanently. My only gripe with them is that
they deleted the choice for a tenderness panel alone.

 

[Angus In Texas]

There is no doubt about it that Genestar is doing a great job marketing their product.... almost to the extent where it is sad to see how gullible people really are. A lot of people that purchase based on Genestar as well as those that are testing for it don't understand the data and what it really means in terms of what makes 6 stars better than 4 ... the only thing they know is the more stars the better. To me it seems like a lot of people are putting a lot of money into it without really understanding it which in the end could lead to a huge fallout if the data never produces premiums at slaughter.

Just my $0.02

 

[novatech]

There is no doubt about it that Genestar is doing a great job marketing their product.... almost to the extent where it is sad to see how gullible people really are. A lot of people that purchase based on Genestar as well as those that are testing for it don't understand the data and what it really means in terms of what makes 6 stars better than 4 ... the only thing they know is the more stars the better. To me it seems like a lot of people are putting a lot of money into it without really understanding it which in the end could lead to a huge fallout if the data never produces premiums at slaughter.

Just my $0.02

Kind of like the people that assume all angus are tender well marbled and buy into the scam of CAB. They never breed their cattle for carcass quality only phenotype, and haven't even done a good job at that.
It may be interesting to you that the King Ranch has been using GeneStar testing for sometime. They sure are "gullible". ;-)

 

[Angus In Texas]

Novatech,

I'm not saying that everyone that uses it is gullible.... what I am saying is the people who use the data in bull selection or marketing but only know enough about it to know that the more stars the better are the ones that are gullible. To me if you are going to make business decisions you should be well informed as to why something is better not just that it is better because the company that developed the test for it say so.

 

[novatech]

Novatech,

I'm not saying that everyone that uses it is gullible.... what I am saying is the people who use the data in bull selection or marketing but only know enough about it to know that the more stars the better are the ones that are gullible. To me if you are going to make business decisions you should be well informed as to why something is better not just that it is better because the company that developed the test for it say so.

I agree. And as far as I am concerned, tenderness may be the least important of all. When Nolan Ryan finishes a steak it could have been shoe leather when it started. Many meat processors are using some of his methods. And I agree with Angus/ Brangus about other things affect meat tenderness other than genetics. Yes I've done my googleing too. There are also other things that affect marbling.
A couple of other things I would like to point out. Genetic testing can be done at birth with the results received in a short period of time. Where as for EPD,s one must wait in many cases years while the percentage of accuracy builds up. Genetic testing is verifiable. Whether the genes are passed on is still a crap shoot.
I believe that all breeds have the genetics to develop into good desirable carcass traits. Some more than others. But if people do not choose those proper genetics they can develop progeny that passes on lesser quality carcass genes. It is really unimportant how one prefers to do it as long as they do.
I believe that EPD's, Carcass evaluation, Ultrasound, line breeding and genetic testing should be used together in a breeding program of seed stock cattle.
Genetic testing is no longer outside the box. It is now just a bigger box. One more tool to breed better seed stock.

 

[novatech]

Well, I'm glad we agree on something, NovaTech :lol:

Line breeding: are you connecting this to beef tenderness or is that just my overactive imagination?

We also agree on puting a little brahman in your angus to make them better. :lol:
Line breeding, done properly, can concentrate the genetics. And don,t ask me any more than that as I am still trying to learn more on the subject. If you want to know more address Doc. or do a search.