Foot & mouth disease in East Asia
[30/04/2010]
Climate change in a climate of change
[02/03/2010]
ILDEX Vietnam 2010 - the solutions for Vietnam’s sustainable growth
[02/03/2010]
UK Sheep meat exports pass the £300 million mark in 2009
[02/03/2010]
Certification Updates
[27/02/2010]
Global Food prices up again according to FAO
[08/02/2010]
New logo selected for all EU organic products
[08/02/2010]
EBLEX beef and sheep roadmap to livestock emissions reductions
[08/02/2010]
Outlook Conference diary alert
[08/02/2010]
Record entries for National All Breeds Show promise a spectacle to dispel the February blues
[08/02/2010]
Make a date: British Cattle Conference 24-26 January 2011
[08/02/2010]
A very merry Christmas (and good year) for British pork sales, at home & abroad
[08/02/2010]
Paris in the Springtime
[07/02/2010]
Aberdeen-Angus semen heads for Estonia
[05/02/2010]
Lloyds TSB Agriculture continues sponsorship of Beef Expo in May
[05/02/2010]
British Blue, British Charolais and British Limousin beef semen exports to USA ...... and Denmark
[05/02/2010]
New JSR International Sales Director
[05/02/2010]
Dairy Burke Trophy moves to new National All Breeds Show
[04/02/2010]
New British semen storage and distribution unit opens
[04/02/2010]
JSR in the Ukraine
[08/12/2009]
Spring into Spring - EBLEX export marketing push
[08/12/2009]
New National All Breeds Show 2010
[08/12/2009]
Male sexed Limousin semen - another ‘world first’ for Crawford Brothers
[04/12/2009]
A Sustainable Breeding Future - British Cattle Conference 25-27 January, 2010
[03/12/2009]
Au revoir and bienvenue to Herefords as they head from England to France
[02/12/2009]
Cogent expansion: commitment and optimism for UK cattle genetics’ future
[01/12/2009]
New Genus ABS appointments in Europe and UK
[01/12/2009]
New British owned AI company launched
[01/12/2009]
British Blues join Semenstore.co.uk
[01/12/2009]
Mad for Madison
[23/09/2009]
New British Angus company launched in response
[23/09/2009]
IndAgra-Farm - UK’s livestock breeding sector are there for business!
[23/09/2009]
Where Asia’s feed, livestock and meat industry do business
[21/09/2009]
National Ploughing Championships 2009
[21/09/2009]
Limousin ‘Goldies Terence’ semen exported to Norway, Finland and Australia
[21/09/2009]
Positive signs for English pig sector
[21/09/2009]
Defra minister to open the Dairy Event and Livestock Show
[08/09/2009]
JSR continues global expansion
[02/09/2009]
World record price for a sheep
[31/08/2009]
Cows for Cambodia!
[28/08/2009]
Cutting edge agricultural research under microscope
[26/08/2009]
GB Bulls Open Day and NEW August DVD now available
[25/08/2009]
Portuguese Pig Producers Choose UK Breeding Stock
[25/08/2009]
Picston Shottle celebrates his tenth birthday
[25/08/2009]
Agriscot - the UK's No 1 Farm Business Event
[25/08/2009]
Strong British team at Expointer
[25/08/2009]
The Dairy Event and Livestock Show 2009
[13/08/2009]
A strong technical team helping the British pig industry
[13/08/2009]
BEEF EXPO 2010 is at Hexham
[12/08/2009]
AHDB appoints new EBLEX director
[12/08/2009]
Expointer And 100 Years of Devons in Brazil
[10/08/2009]
New export initiatives for livestock & meat sectors
[27/07/2009]
EBLEX and BPEX relocate to Stoneleigh
[27/07/2009]
News on latest meat sector economics publications & services
[23/07/2009]
Pig campaign wins major international awards
[29/05/2009]
Doors open for lamb exports to United Arab Emirates
[06/04/2009]
World Shorthorn Conference 2010 – A world of opportunity in the home of the breed
[23/03/2009]
Pig export news from ACMC
[23/03/2009]
UK’s Beef and Lamb exports up
[05/03/2009]
Breeding polled cattle made easier
[05/03/2009]
British pork exports hit £160million
[20/02/2009]
Genus expands business in China
[20/02/2009]
'Positive future' for dairy industry
[23/01/2009]
British Limousin Pedigree sales in 2008 exceed £5 million
[15/01/2009]
2008 Archive
2007 Archive
2006 Archive
2005 Archive
2004 Archive
This means that breeders can use this ‘inside information’ to remove the guesswork involved when selecting cattle for polling. Breeders can know, for certain, the polling/horning status of their cattle and select accordingly, using the information contained in the genetic profile produced by the IGENITY tool.
Markers for other breeds are being validated and will be available through the IGENITY profiling service soon.
The trait of being polled or having horns is believed to be determined by one pair of genes. One gene in the pair is inherited from the dam and the other from the sire. The polled gene (P) is dominant to the horned gene (H). If an animal has two polled genes (PP or homozygous polled), or one polled and one horned gene (HP or heterozygous), it will be polled.
However, if it is heterozygous polled it may pass either the polled or horned gene on to its offspring. The only situation when an animal will be horned is when it possesses two recessive horned genes (HH or homozygous horned).
The presence of horns in commercial cattle is known to cause performance losses and damage to carcasses, according to Global Director of Technical Services for IGENITY, Dr. Jim Gibb. “But now producers can make selection decisions by using another piece of important information.”
He says that the genetic marker is certainly proving very popular in the US, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. “Breeding polled cattle eliminates the cost and hassle of de-horning – it reduces the amount of stress on the animals – and staff. And the UK’s animal welfare regulations are also expected to be tighter in the future concerning de-horning and may stipulate that the procedure has to be carried out by a vet – making it more expensive than it is at the moment.
“Handling cattle when de-horning, particularly older and therefore larger
animals, is not without its safety risks either,” he adds.
So breeding polled cattle could be a more economically attractive option for
many producers and will certainly save on labour, handling and hassle.
The comprehensive IGENITY profile also includes multiple-marker DNA analysis for traits of economic importance, such as tenderness potential, fat thickness, rib eye area, retail meat yield, average daily gain, marbling, and coat colour, along with parentage in multiple-sire settings, as well as a diagnostic test for identifying cattle persistently infected (PI) with bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) virus.
For more info see www.igenity.com
[05/03/2009]
