I recently attended an interesting program on Dairy Cattle Genomics and thought you might have an interest in what is happening in that science. Genomics is the study of genetics combined with the study of DNA, including mapping the genome. It is a science that is extremely technical and involves over 3 billion DNA base pairs in every cell. Basically it takes a lot of computer power to study it.
In this meeting we learned how they are now able to take DNA samples from an individual animal and tell you how that animal will perform based on the trait you selected or want. So, if you want to increase your herds milking ability or reproductive efficiency or even calf size, through genomics you can identify individuals that have those traits. This saves you making crosses and waiting on the calves to see if the traits are expressed. It also allows you to keep the right heifers at birth versus spending money and time growing them out to calving and being disappointed. Look for this science to help our purebred breeds make rapid advancement and improvement.
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