SASKATOON — An animal has roughly 17,000 genetic markers, and in the dairy and hog industry these markers have been identified and utilized for breeding – just like the genetic markers used in crop breeding. Soon, the same will be possible for the beef industry.
“The goal now is to be able to know what genetic markers (each mean),” said Terry Fonstad, associate vice-president of research at the University of Saskatchewan (USask).
“So you want better udders, want longer calves, you want better feet, you want animals that are shorter days from birth to plate. We can custom make that for a parkland animal, for an animal on short grass, and really allow the industry to flourish.”
This work is currently underway and will be expanding further at the university, with funding from the government of Saskatchewan and the federal government for two new facilities for an initiative called IntegrOmes, which is short for Integrated Genomics for Sustainable Animal Agriculture and Environmental Stewardship.
The Omics Resource Centre will be located in Saskatoon at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM), and the Beef Reprotech facilities will be housed at the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence (LFCE) facilities near Clavet, Sask.
Over the next four years, $3.4 million will be invested as part of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The funding and facilities will enable precise, data-driven breeding decisions for producers and improve beef cattle productivity in Saskatchewan and across Canada, thus improving the province’s competitiveness in national and international markets.
“It (research and facilities) helps the industry stay competitive and able to anticipate and respond to future challenges and opportunities, sometimes even before they happen,” said Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture Daryl Harrison, at the June 17 announcement at LFCE.
“Over the past five years, we’ve invested a total of almost $170 million in agriculture research here in the province. It improves productivity, opens new markets, and ensures that Saskatchewan agri-food products remain in high demand around the world.”
Gillian Muir, dean of WCVM, shared that this project originally began in 2021 with additional financial support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Innovation Saskatchewan, the U of S, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Alberta Ministry of Jobs, Economy, and Innovation, Prairie Diagnostic Services and the Saskatchewan Cattle Association.
“There’s a number of components of this project. Significantly, the Omics lab at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine,” she said. “It’s up and running now. That’s where the lab work’s going to be done, where we’re going to be doing all the bench work. But this final piece, where we’ve got the Reprotech facilities and the equipment that we need here and at the LFCE Goodale to be able to collect that wealth of genetic information in order to run it.”
The Reprotech facilities are “critical components” of the project as they will provide consistent access to animals and the collection of genetic information for research, learning, and teaching. It opens opportunities for researchers of WCVM, the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, and the Global Institute for Food Security to have the tools and facilities necessary to establish beef genomic testing for Saskatchewan as well as the rest of Canada.
This work will include:the sequencing of beef cattle genomes and identifying regions associated with optimum physical and behavioural traits;
the creation of a database with Canadian cattle genetics, that will be available to prodcuers and researchers across the country;
the development of practical tools to assist in producer decision making, improvement of herd productivity, and herd reproduction; and the identification of genomic information to help in the development of rapid diagnostic tools for disease detection and addressing issues of antimicrobial resistance amongst beef cattle.
The new funding allows for the establishment of the “final puzzle piece” to make a “significant impact on Canada’s beef cattle industry,” said Muir.
Exciting beginnings
Bart Lardner is one of the researchers who will be working on the beef genomic tools. He was just granted a three-year project to investigate genomic tools for cow-calf producers with a focus on applying genomic information for the selection of sires.
He explained that the work will be similar to how genomic breeding information has been utilized in the crop industry, but in this case the information will be used to look at specific genetic traits of a sire to determine a clear outcome with a possible calf crop.
“Because we know that the end product, that animal itself, is an interaction between genomics and the environment,” Lardner said. “So, can we control that environment to see expression of that specific trait that we want to see, in that particular cow-calf operation.”
Through the genetic information, they’ll be able to identify possible outcomes on different weight stages of a calf (birth, weaning, yearling), the repeatability fo the sire, and longevity of a replacement heifer in the herd.
The use of this information will be widespread, with impacts to producer decision making and an operation’s overall costs.
For example, at the bull sale some producers prefer considering the physical aspects of the animal rather than EPDs (expected progeny differences) due to inaccuracy. Lardner said some EPDs can be imprecise as there isn’t a “policing” of them for accuracy and raises questions of what data was input or how the EPD was generated. Incorporating known genetic information could increase EPD accuracy, as well as allow producers make a more informed decision for their needs.
When it comes to cost, by being able to select a sire by trait there is a possibility of selecting animals more suited to an environment.
“We can use less water, feed, all those types of things, inputs, diesel fuel, just to raise that animal,” he said. “And that’s huge in today’s world, especially in the beef industry.”
Fonstand said there will be a huge difference in the beef industry in five to 10 year because of this research. And there will be tools and monumental impacts because it’s been done in other sectors such as dairy, hogs, and wheat just to name a few.
“Someday in the future, we’ll be able to say okay, that marker, this marker (means ‘this’),” he said. “And it may be from different breeds… you might be able take something from a Simmental, a little bit from a Limo, some from a Hereford, and put them together and say, this is the perfect animal for this parkland environment or for short grass. That’s the goal, and we know we can do it.”
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