the 2022 AI (Artificial Insemination) program to produce the Cohort 13 calves has been completed with 1,646 Angus females joined across five co-operator herds.
The Angus Sire Benchmarking Program (ASBP) has seen the entry of 27 new bulls which were selected from 55 nominations from Angus Australia members in order to produce progeny to represent Cohort 13 of the program.
Christian Duff, Angus Australia’s General Manager – Genetic Improvement said the Cohort 13 sires have been used in FTAI programs to produce the Cohort 13 calves, which will be born in the spring of 2023.
“They will be comprehensively genotyped and phenotyped from birth to slaughter in the steers and birth to first calving in the heifers.”
Further, the Cohort 13 sires are described in the following groups:
• Australian – Twenty-five (25) Australian bred sires
• New Zealand – Two (2) New Zealand bred sires, and
• Link bulls – Two sires that will provide links to the previous Cohort (Cohort 12) being Hazeldean Q1229 and Bongongo Q227.
Mr Duff said the 27 bulls continue the high-performance nature of ASBP sires with the group averaging in the top 5% for the $A and $A-L Indexes. “Importantly, this is coupled with genetic diversity and being representative of the modern Australian Angus population, which is important for an effective reference population.”
Across the 13 Cohorts of the ASBP, there has now been 437 modern Angus bulls enter this industry leading research and development program.
Mr Duff said the 2022 AI (Artificial Insemination) program to produce the Cohort 13 calves has been completed with 1,646 Angus females joined across five co-operator herds.
“New sires were joined to 60 Angus females on average with the aim to produce approximately 30 calves for each sire. This is from a fixed time AI program with one round of insemination, utilising Vetoquinol advice and products such as Cue-Mate devices.”
A listing of the Cohort 13 sires, and previous cohorts sire lists, are available from Sire Benchmarking catalogue listing on angus.tech.
The Angus Sire Benchmarking Program (ASBP) is a major R&D initiative of Angus Australia with support from Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and industry partners such as Vetoquinol, Rangers Valley, Stockyard, John Dee Abattoir, Neogen and Zoetis.
The objective of the ASBP is to “Grow the comprehensive phenotype and genotype reference population on contemporary Australian Angus animals, particularly on hard‐to‐measure traits, for enhanced genetic evaluation, collaborative research and innovative development.”
-Angus Australia