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Centre for Genetic
Improvement of Livestock Sire Surfing
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The information
highway could make finding the ideal beef sire as easy as ordering steak
from a menu.
BIO-Mate, a website developed by Profs. Steve Miller and Jim Wilton, along with research associates Marc Lazenby, Larry Banks and Steve Klinge, Centre for Genetic Improvement of Livestock, is designed to make purchasing beef sires easier, faster - and above all, more profitable - for farmers. "We're providing producers with a convenient opportunity to buy the sires that best suit their business," says Miller. "They only need to answer a few questions on the web site and our program will reply with a detailed list of dozens of tested bulls with the qualities they're after." For example, the BIO-mate web page asks these questions:
When complete, farmers can further narrow down their options by stressing certain sire features such as its birth weight or age. The program then generates a list of all suitable Ontario bulls and their associated EPD's. Included in this list is information about the sire's parentage, its various test results, estimated progeny performance...and even a photo where available. Most importantly, the information provided is always accurate and up-to-date - a valuable attribute in a business where statistics and prices can vary on a daily basis. In recent years, breeding beef cows to the proper sire has become a complex and, at times, confusing business. Bulls are being tested and graded on an ever-increasing number of factors, from the expected weights of their offspring at various ages to the type and quality of different cuts of meat. No bull will be ideal in all qualities. So farmers must weigh their priorities and choose the best possible sire from this maze of statistics, ratings and test results. To address the information overload, Miller, Wilton and their research team developed a computer program that helps producers choose the most profitable bull for their individual farm. The customized selection index takes an array of variables into consideration to produce an Predicted Dollar Difference (PDD), which represents the extra money that the producer will earn by choosing one particular bull over another - an amount that can reach thousands of dollars per year. Taking this technology one step further, BIO-mate will soon be offered to Ontario beef producers over the Internet. Although still in its testing phase, Miller feels this product will be a welcome addition to the Ontario beef industry and possibly beyond. "The current model is restricted to Ontario sires, but there's plenty of room for expansion," says Miller. "With artificial insemination it's possible that in the future, producers could be choosing the most profitable sires from around the world." This project is supported by Beef Improvement Ontario and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. |
