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Breeding Brilliance will be led by industry leading reproductive scientists, geneticists and agribusiness professionals. The speaker panel will include; Professor Emeritus Mike D’Occhio, Professor Jim Kinder, Professor Ben Hayes, Dr Mike Stephens and Ian McLean.
Over decades, Alf Collins has sought out and fostered relationships with these forward-thinking professionals. Each panellist works with evidence-based, analysed information in order to make informed decisions and observations. The integrity of their work is coupled with their enthusiasm to share their knowledge.
BushAgribusiness’ Managing Director, Ian McLean, has accrued extensive experience consulting in the agribusiness sector. The team at BushAgribusiness develop thorough insights on individual businesses and identify opportunities to improve profitability and promote longevity in beef operations. Through these insights the Australian Beef Report has been published. Ian’s business analysis has made it clear fertility is essential to improved profitability.
“Of the three productivity drivers (reproductive rate, mortality rate and sale weight) reproductive rate is the most important and has the most influence on herd productivity.
“Fertility is therefore one of the most important profit drivers in a commercial breeding herd. This is not to say other traits are not important, but fertility should always be a primary consideration in the genetic selection and management of a commercial breeding business,” Ian said.
Reproductive failure is hugely costly for the beef industry, with an estimated annual gross loss in US of $USD2.8 billion.[i] Approaching fertility from a physiological perspective Professor Emeritius Mike D’Occhio USYD and Professor Jim Kinder US/OSU specialise in endocrine systems which impact conception and embryonic survival. Their international expertise and academic standing is paired with their keen ability to clearly and concisely explain these complex topics, without emitting key details.
Professor D’Occhio explains that while genetic selection is crucial, for traits to be expressed, selection must be combined with effective management practices.
“Management becomes important in that a lot of producers might have animals that are genetically disposed to early age puberty, which is heritable, but then their management falls down and doesn’t support the genetics in their herd in terms of subsequent reproductive performance.
“Individual producers can think about, ‘What am I doing in my production at this level to actually support or enable the genetics that I have, to be expressed in an outcome which increases fertility’,” Professor D’Occhio said.
Being able to assess the genetic progress of herd fertility has previously been a challenging and costly task. The work of Professor Ben Hayes, UQ, in the Northern Genomics Project aimed to address these difficulties. The project recorded female fertility traits and collected genotypes for 30,000 heifers across 54 commercial herds in northern Australia.
The outcome of Professor Hayes’ work has been the development of Genomic Estimated Breeding Values (GEBVs) for multiple traits including; weight, heifer puberty and 600days of age and P4M (the likelihood of cows reconceived within four months post-calving). The GEBVs developed from Northern Genomics are available to all commercial producers, allowing them to assess the current genetic profile of their herd and make informed breeding decisions to increase genetic gain.
Meridian Agriculture’s principal, Dr Mike Stephens will host the panel of speakers. Providing consultancy and advisory, Dr Stephens has completed Australia’s first PhD on succession, focused on the challenges producers face in retaining family ownership over generations. Dr Stephens offers a unique perspective on the longevity of family businesses and consequently the imperative of running a profitable operation.
Our panel of experts offer a broad spectrum of expertise, while each speaker possesses a depth of knowledge in their area they all understand the practicalities of beef production. Their clear communication and practical thinking means attendees will acquire tangible, proven information they can harness in their own operations. Breeding Brilliance is an essential event for any producer who is inquisitive and wants to improve their business and their herd.
We look forward to seeing you there. Bring your questions!
Breeding Brilliance Details
Date: Thursday 9th May 2024
Time: 10:00am to 2:30pm
Location: CocoBrew, 112 Williams Street, Rockhampton QLD
Cost: FREE, morning tea and lunch provided
Transport: Bus departing from at 9:45am, returning at 2:30pm
[i] Kertz, Nicholas C., Priyanka Banerjee, Paul W. Dyce, and Wellison J. S. Diniz. 2023. “Harnessing Genomics and Transcriptomics Approaches to Improve Female Fertility in Beef Cattle—A Review” Animals 13, no. 20: 3284. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13203284
