Agricultural News
New Web-Based Sire Selection Tool Promises Easier Decision-Making with Herd Specific Optimization
Tue, 09 Jul 2019 10:26:03 CDT
Dr. Matt Spangler of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is working in collaboration with other researchers in the development of a web-based solution to enable cattle producers to make better bull buying decisions for their commercial cow operations. Spangler's team has dubbed the product, still in development and scheduled for release in 2020, iGENDEC which stands for internet genetic decisions. According to him, this tool will allow producers to combine a large amount of data that will generate information that can be used to make the most economical decision when it comes to buying a bull.
"Producers often face the problem of obtaining best bulls for their operation given the setting," he said. "The best is a relative concept. So, it's possible that a less desirable bull could become the preferred choice over the 'better' bull if the cost differential is large enough."
Spangler clarifies that the impetus for this project is not the belief that currently available selection indexes are so inherently flawed that they are of little value - it is quite the opposite. He insists that they are extremely useful tools. But he does believe the way in which they are used to arrive at a final decision can be improved. He hopes to accomplish that task through this new selection decision tool which will give producers the opportunity to develop their own indexes specific to their operation and one that is geared toward selecting for the most return on investment.
"We really want to encourage people to contemplate bull buying decisions as the capital investment that they actually are," he said. "Our goal is to enable those decisions to help alleviate what I consider the cumbersome if not the near impossible task of combining all partial solutions into one optimized decision."
Learn more about the development of this new Sire Selection Tool by hearing Spangler talk more on the subject with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays, 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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