In this episode of The Angus Table, we are sharing a recording of a special member webinar where we introduced Angus GenetiQ. Angus GenetiQ is the society’s new in-house genetic evaluation system. In this episode, President Sinclair Clark Monro begins by emphasising Angus Australia's commitment to member-focused genetic improvement tools, and CEO Scott Wright explains the strategic reasoning behind developing in-house capability.

Next, COO Carel Teseling delivers a comprehensive technical presentation comparing Angus GenetiQ with TACE, covering important differences in methodology, genetic trend comparisons across all traits, and EBV correlations. The webinar clarifies that Angus Australia has not decided to move away from Breedplan—both evaluations will be publicly displayed as the society takes members on this journey.

Pull up a chair at the Angus Table, this is essential listening for any Angus breeder wanting to understand the technical foundations and strategic direction of genetic evaluation at Angus Australia.

Key topics covered:

1. Why Angus Australia developed Angus GenetiQ: risk mitigation, efficiency, innovation speed, and controlling destiny
2. How in-house capability enables quicker response to member needs and industry priorities
3. The strategic decision to display both TACE and Angus GenetiQ results during consultation period
4. Important technical differences between TACE and Angus GenetiQ evaluations
5. Why Angus GenetiQ uses only Australian registered animals (excludes New Zealand data from TACE)
6. Genetic trend comparisons showing strong alignment between TACE and Angus GenetiQ for most traits
7. EBV correlation analysis demonstrating 70-96% correlation across traits for top 1,500 bulls
8. The decision to combine rib and rump fat into single carcass fat EBV (reducing trait complexity)
9. Why IMF is being replaced by MSA Marble Score (easier to collect, more phenotypes available)
10. The plan to develop yield EBV using primal cuts rather than retail beef yield
11. How maternal value in Angus GenetiQ includes both milk and maternal care (not split like TACE)
12. Future trait releases including calving ease EBVs and structural trait evaluation
13. The exploration of desired gains indexes versus traditional economic value indexes
14. How Angus GenetiQ will support commercial programs like HeiferSELECT and SteerSELECT
15. The role of scanning data in informing correlated carcass traits through genetic correlations

Pull quotes:

"Angus GenetiQ has been over four years of development across three different presidents, two CEOs, and many boardroom discussions and lots of strategic thinking…Genetic evaluation is very core to what we do. [It's] been controlled by entities outside Angus Australia. The thinking behind Angus GenetiQ was to have in-house capability."

"A very important point is the decision has not been made to move away from Breedplan and stop using Breedplan. It does seem confusing that we'd have parallel genetic evaluation, but it's there for good reason…for consultation and taking members on the journey."

"Angus GenetiQ is bigger than just genetic evaluation. It gives us in-house capability to make advances and changes as the society needs. It lets us be much more flexible going forward. This is the start of capability for the society."

"These are not minor variations, they’re not small things we’ve tweaked around the edges, they are very significant and they have a big impact on estimates for every trait for every animal. We would not expect EBVs of these two analyses to be the same because of these differences."

"We're looking at potentially reducing some of the traits. IMF and MSA Marble Score are closely correlated...MSA Marble Score is easier to get phenotypes for, so it makes sense to use that trait directly in the analysis rather than as a correlated trait."

“ It has been expressed by members that we just continue to have more and more EBVs, which makes it then harder to really be able to select…andthe slower your progress in potentially important traits. So by being able to combine some of these traits we are decreasing the number and therefore the push into some of the important traits potentially could help you to make more and faster growth or progress in those traits.”

Relevant links mentioned in the episode:

1. Angus GenetiQ information and resources
2. Direct technical questions to Carel Teseling (COO), Hanlie Jansen, Nancy Crawshaw, Brad Hein
3. Direct strategic questions to Sinclair Monro (President), Scott Wright (CEO)

Contact details:

This podcast is proudly brought to you by Angus Australia https://www.angusaustralia.com.au/

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CREDITS:

Host: Scott Wright, CEO. Get in touch via email [email protected]

Producer: Mel Strasburg [email protected]

Audio editing and post-production: Ellen Ronalds Keene at https://perkdigital.com.au