Marbling and Cows

Marbling and Cows

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
A new research paper debunks the myth that carcass quality must come at the expense of maternal function. Virginia animal scientists reviewed nearly 70 individual studies in an effort to answer the question - has selection for marbling hurt cowherd productivity? Scott Greiner explains what they found:"In a nutshell, what we found is that, no it has not and that marbling as a very small and not insignificant relationship with most of the traits that we associate with cowherd productivity." In general - as marbling increases - so does milk production - the authors say. But expected progeny differences - or EPDs - and indexes allow ranchers to make selections that fit their environments. Again, Mr. Greiner: "If you look at the tools that we have available through sire summary and identify bulls which will take us in a certain direction in traits simultaneously, those bulls are available and that is the great news. In the Angus industry we can sort through the tremendous database and find those unique bulls that we can select for more than one trait and make significant progress simultaneously."Greiner says producers can expect to see more directional change in carcass traits - which are highly heritable - as compared to those reproductive traits.
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