A NEW strategic partnership between Angus Australia and service provider Weatherbys Scientific is set to strengthen the genetic future of the Angus breed, with the launch this week of a suite of innovative genomics products to address key industry challenges and drive herd performance.

The collaboration introduces three new products: Angus Legacy, Verified Angus Beef, and NeXtPredict Heifer, all delivered by Weatherbys Scientific’s new Bovine Versa 85K SNP DNA chip.

Angus Australia chief executive officer Scott Wright said the partnership reflected a deliberate move to broaden capability and bring fresh innovation to the genomics space.

“We believe competition is a great thing and we are always looking for ways to strengthen the tools and services available to our members,” Mr Wright said.

“Weatherbys has demonstrated strong technological capability and brought some impressive proposals that directly addressed several strategic challenges we were working through.

“Their advances in high-density genomic testing and their willingness to bring in NeXtgen Agri to help tailor solutions at a farm level also gave us confidence they could deliver trusted quality and long-term value.”

Weatherbys Scientific business development manager Michael-John Barry said the collaboration focused on delivering practical benefits to Angus breeders and the broader industry.

“This partnership is about turning genomic science into everyday value,” Mr Barry said.

“In each product we were driven by how we could lift herd potential, breed performance and industry productivity.”

Building the Angus reference population

The first product, Angus Legacy, is designed to significantly expand the Angus reference population by encouraging high-density genomic testing of older breeding females with a cost-effective entry point to the capability of the 85K SNP chip.

“One of our priorities has been finding ways to capture more meaningful genomic information from animals that might previously have only been parent verified,” Mr Wright said.

By encouraging high-density genomic testing of older cows, Angus Legacy helps expand the reference population that underpins Angus breeders’ genetic evaluation. That lifts the accuracy of predictions across the board and creates value not just for individual breeders, but for the entire Angus population over time.

“It’s a strategic investment in the future of the breed, and a good example of how new technology can be applied in a practical way to solve real challenges for our members,” Mr Wright said.

Strengthening integrity in the beef supply chain

The second initiative, Verified Angus Beef , is aimed at the commercial end of the supply chain, to add scientific rigour to claims of Angus breed content.

Using genomic testing on a percentage of animals, the program helps verify that an entire line meets the minimum thresholds of 87.5pc Angus genetics, offering an objective measure to replace traditionally subjective assessment.

Turning data into better breeding decisions

The third product, NeXtPredict Heifer combines the genomic testing of Weatherbys Scientific with the power of Angus Australia’s Angus GenetiQ analysis, and expert advice from leading consultancy NeXtgen Agri.

“We’ve already seen how powerful this sort of collaboration can be through the successful introduction of NeXtPredict in the Merino sector, where breeders have valued not just the genetic information, but the expert support to help them use it with confidence,” Mr Barry said.

“Bringing NeXtPredict Heifer to breeders of Angus cattle is about cutting through the confusion that can come with large volumes of genetic data. Instead of being handed a spreadsheet and left to work it out alone, breeders can get practical guidance to turn those results into clear actionable decisions,” he said.

NeXtgen Agri chief executive Mark Ferguson said the potential genetic gain that can be achieved each year was about 5pc, but most producers are recording only 0.5pc.

“The biggest thing that farmers have control over is the accuracy of their breeding selection,” he said.

“Some choices are straightforward – culls are culls and nice animals are nice animals. It’s the grey area in the middle where genomic information can assist in making better selection decisions and showing where those gains can be achieved.”

Mr Wright said NeXtgen Agri had done a great job in the sheep space and because a lot of producers had Angus in their operation, this dovetailed nicely and was a great fit for southern Australian producers and those in New Zealand.

The evolution of genomics

Carel Teseling

Angus Australia chief operating officer Carel Teseling said the partnership was a welcome development as the rapid evolution of genomics changed how seedstock producers approached genetic improvement.

“Genotyping gives an earlier indication of an animal’s genetic potential, but proof is always in the performance,” Mr Teseling said.

“Phenotype data, whether that’s growth, carcase traits or fertility, is what allows the system to keep learning and improving. The two are complementary and you need both to drive long-term genetic progress.”

“As we genotype more animals, including older females, and link that information to real performance data, the reference population becomes stronger. That improves the ability of the evaluation system to identify the genomic patterns associated with important traits, which benefits everyone.”

Source: Weatherbys Scientific