Agricultural News
Angus Genetics Inc. President Dan Moser Says Advanced Genetic Tools Add Tremendous Value
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 11:11:15 CST
For the last decade, Angus Genetics Inc. has been helping angus producers improve their breeding programs, increase accuracy of EPDs within the breed and at the end of the day work to make all segments of the beef chain more profitable. Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays had the chance recently to speak with Dan Moser, president of AGI, about the services his team offers.
"AGI is a company owned by the American Angus Association. We're the genetics and genomics arm of the association," Moser said. "We conduct the in-house Angus EPD calculation every week. It's another source of information to more accurately characterize these cattle and know what they're going to do when the bulls go to working commercial herds."
Moser says that for as long as anyone can remember, members of the Angus Association have submitted their breeding data and EPD information back to the association to help the breed advance its overall understanding of its genetic pool. Over time, he says EPDs as a tool have gained accuracy and predictability and have become an important tool to producers as they strive to breed the most high-quality stock available. Since AGI was established, many other tools and innovations have been developed also, that allow producers an even broader look at how they can select cattle for their individual breeding goals. Even now, Moser says AGI is continuing to look at new innovations that will help producers to an even greater degree. He explained that more EPD measurements are on the horizon, such as altitude tolerance, fescue tolerance, and more probing measurements at fertility and structural correctness and soundness.
"The accuracy just gets better. The data accumulation. The predictability is the best it's ever been," he said. "It's a real value to commercial producers because there's just less risk when they buy a bull. They can expect he's going to perform the way they numbers indicate."
Listen to Moser and Hays discuss the value AGI's work adds back to the Angus breed, on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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