Introduction
The UK beef industry produced 885,000 tonnes of beef in 2012 from 2.7million head of cattle. However, the UK is not self-sufficient with nearly 20% of beef consumed needing to be imported. As an industry we are striving to increase production but at the same time improve the overall sustainability (environmentally and profitability) of the industry. Genetic improvement is a cost effective, sustainable and cumulative way of increasing both production and sustainability in the UK beef industry. This is even truer with the development of genomic technologies that allow accurate genomic prediction of an animal’s genetic potential for carcass traits (an end of life trait) from birth. In order to use genetics to improve production and sustainability, ABP UK (ABP), British Limousin Cattle Society (BLCS) and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) undertook a four year project to produce Visual Image Analysis (VIA) carcass trait genomic breeding values for UK Limousin cattle. The project was cofunded by the government-backed Innovate UK and BBSRC. The project was completed at the end of 2015 and the first UK genomic breeding values (GEBVs) will be available for VIA carcass traits in the 2016 official Limousin genetic evaluations.
Using Visual Image Analysis (VIA) to genetically improve carcass yields
Analysis of the VIA data revealed a £25/carcass (4kg) difference in the retail value of strip loin between the very best and very worst carcasses. As part of the project it was shown that these differences have a strong genetic component with the heritability of strip loin being 0.28 after adjusting for the carcass weight. Moderate heritabilities were also estimated for the other primal cut yields considered.
The project combined abattoir VIA carcass information on slaughter animals and genotypes from Limousin animals (mostly sires, but also influential cows) to produce a UK Limousin SNP key for carcass traits. The SNP key can be thought of as a library containing the different DNA signatures represented in the Limousin population and matches these signatures to the different carcass attributes. Therefore from looking at the DNA signature alone (i.e. when the animal is a calf) we can predict with high accuracy if the animal has good or bad genetics for the carcass traits at slaughter. This will allow Limousin breeders to more accurately select beef animals that meet processor and retailer specifications. The project was the first of its kind to be carried out in the UK and was truly innovative in that the selection tools produced will allow selection for new previously unavailable, but economically important, traits. It has the potential to increase value along the whole supply chain for British beef by focusing breeding on carcass traits of real economic significance.
Using these new breeding tools to increase beef production and help to increase the UK’s self-sufficiency which will be important as the worldwide demand for beef increasing as developing countries grow. The project provided a first step in developing an integrated supply chain in which UK producers could profitably increase beef production by circa 220,500 tonnes before the UK market is saturated. It has also helped to protect the UK market by enabling home produced beef to benefit from being closely linked to UK Customer requirements. Benefits have and will be even more noticeable overtime as more and more carcass data accumulates. The whole supply chain has and will continue into the future see an increased benefit, and this includes benefits for Pedigree Limousin breeders, ABP finishers, ABP, retailers and ultimately the customer.
Not only does the introduction of GEBVs for VIA carcass traits now provide opportunity for substantial genetic progress of carcass but it also now provides opportunities that strengthen market signals between the individual sectors within the beef supply chain. The processors are having increasing issues within their sector with cattle delivered out of specification. Increases in animals that meet required specification will now be possible as a result of this new technology and over time increase in yields will be seen as the uptake by breeders is increased.
The Limousin breed – the largest breed in the UK – now has the extra value of offering another tool to aid management and selection decisions on farm to increase animal performance, increase efficiency, sustainability and to ensure there is a future for the Beef industry in the UK. The current methods of genetic evaluation used within the pedigree sector are EBVs for 400 day live weight and ultrasound fat and muscle depth of animals. These EBVs provide information for the commercial sector when choosing bulls to purchase and produce offspring for slaughter. However, when the commercial sector sell cattle to the abattoir they are paid according to the EUROP grid based on carcass weight and EUROP conformation grid and 1–5 fat class. The different methods of assessing carcass information along the supply chain mean that market signals are diluted along the chain. Using the same method of assessing carcass – VIA carcass traits – along the whole of the supply chain, from pedigree breeders to the abattoirs will enable the beef industry to produce animals with improved carcass that consistently meet market specification.
The introduction of VIA machines delivers greater transparency and consistency in Cattle Grading for ABP Farmers. The VIA machines now enable ABP to introduce the new improved 15 point grid which more accurately reflects the retail value of carcass meat. For example: The R will now have a premium of 5p/kg. Using the old method of grading previously wouldn’t reward for this. One of the clear signals ABP is now receiving from the market and their customers is that they require primal’s, joints and steaks supplied from lighter carcasses which will satisfy ever changing consumer demands. From 10th November 2015 ABP have been using the new 15 point VIA grid to pay their farmers.
ABP now have the opportunity to reward farmers more fairly and more accurately compared to the old method of grading cattle. In the past, cattle could have been deducted payment due to human error, and/or rewarded when they should have been deducted for poorer yielding cattle. VIA and the new payment grid allows for fair and consistent way of grading cattle. ABP also have the ability to be able to use the carcass trait genomic evaluations for further developments within its breeding programmes, health scores, animal performance.
How Genomic breeding values will be implemented in UK Limousin cattle
Genomic breeding values (GEBVs) for VIA carcass traits will be provided as part of the 2016 official Limousin genetic evaluations. In order to gain a Carcass Trait GEBV, a DNA sample (hair or tissue sample) needs to be genotyped for the animal. To coordinate the process of genotyping cattle, the project partners have developed Genesure. Genesure Ltd is a company set up by the project partners who will administer the genotyping of the animal’s DNA and produce the GEBV results. In addition, Limousin breeders will also be able to order and manage testing for single gene tests (e.g. myostatin, polled, colour etc) that are undertaken with the breed society.The website www.genesure.co.uk will be available very soon.
As breeders use the BASCO webpages for registering cattle, performance recording and viewing and searching for animals based on their EBVs, Genesure have used the BASCO platform to provide online tools to allow breeders to order GEBVs for animals that they own. The online pages can be accessed directly from BASCO www.basco.org or by using links from the Genesure web pages. If you already have an account with BASCO then when you log on to ‘My Page’ you will see a few more options that are used to order tests and view results. If you don’t already have accounts with BASCO use the ‘register here for free’ option to set up an account. Using the ‘Place My Order’ option will show a list of animals in your ownership and you can select the animals you would like to test, for these animals you then pick which combination of genetic tests you would like. Once your order has been submitted, the Society office will dispatch the required bags for sampling. These will be bar coded and will also show the animal’s UK number. Collected hair samples are returned to the Limousin office that will then coordinate sending the sample to the genotype laboratory. At any time breeders can track the status at the order by using the ‘Track My Order’ option.
GEBVs will be reported back to the owner on the BASCO member area via the ‘View/Publish Genotyping Results’ option. It is not compulsory for the GEBV to be made public and the owner of the animal will decide if the GEBV will be published (by clicking a publish box on the webpages) and once published the GEBV will remain published. Once published the GEBV results will be published via BASCO in the same way existing EBVs are presented, and will be available at the same time conventional EBVs are published, or when the publish box has been ticked by the owner. If the animal has a GEBV available but the owner has decided not to publish it, a message conveying this will appear on the BASCO search engine for that animal.
As part of the genomic evaluation used to calculate GEBVs, some animals will receive EBVs for these traits even though they are not genotyped. This is because we have sufficient VIA abattoir data and pedigree information to compute the VIA EBV. VIA EBVs for these ungenotyped animals will be published on the BASCO webpages provided the EBV accuracy is greater 50%.
Whilst this may seem confusing have EBVs and GEBVs published, it will be clearly marked if it is a GEBV. However, GEBVs and EBVs are both breeding values that can be directly compared as they are computed at the same time, and thus can be used in exactly the same way. As with the GEBVs, these EBVs are produced from completely independent sources of data and once a high accuracy EBV is available then it is not economical to pay for a GEBV. Once an animal has been genotyped for GEBVs, publication of carcass trait EBVs will cease so that it only ever has one breeding value at one time.
Conclusions
The implementation of the VIA carcass trait genomic selection has been an exciting time for the beef industry. It will now provide many benefits and opportunities for the UK Limousin beef population as well as the wider beef industry as we genetically improve animals to have better yielding carcass.
Acknowledgements
This project is a collaboration involving ABP UK, British Limousin Cattle Society and Scotland’s Rural College and is co-funded by the government backed Innovate UK and BBSRC.