Genetic Testing Is Changing Cattle Of All Stripes

By: Gene Johnston

To understand where the beef industry is going, take a look at where the dairy industry has been. That’s what the Beef Improvement Federation, a group that advances the science of beef genetics, did when it invited Tom Lawlor, a genomics expert for Holstein USA, to share his industry’s experience with DNA testing.

The dairy industry, particularly the Holstein breed, has been on a DNA quest for more than 10 years, ever since better and cheaper genetic evaluation techniques became available, Lawlor says. “It is having a huge impact on dairy. Not only have we dramatically reduced our generation interval and increased our rate of genetic progress by two to four times, but also there have been some important structural changes to our industry.”