Valuing DNA marker tested bulls for commercial beef production

Abstract

This paper quantifies the benefits of using a sire genotyped for a single recessive gene in a commercial beef herd. A modified gene-flow method was used to account for changing allele frequency over time. The benefits to a commercial breeder of using a genotyped sire were highest when initial allele frequency was moderate and when the sire was used in a self-replacing herd that had increased allele frequency over time. An example of the thyroglobulin gene affecting marbling in beef cattle was used. The value to a self-replacing herd of a sire homozygous for the favourable allele of the thyroglobulin gene was shown to be up to $338 more than of an ungenotyped sire, in a population where the initial gene frequency was 0.3 and the genotype accounted for 0.5 standard deviations of phenotypic variation.