The Rural Voice, 2000-07, Page 12QUICK -FIT
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8 THE RURAL VOICE
Scrap Book
New bull evaluation studied
A professor at the University of
Guelph's Centre for Genetic
Improvement of Livestock has
developed a beef cattle evaluation
method that considers the dynamic
nature of biological traits such as
growth, feed intake and body comp-
osition for potential breeding bulls.
By studying dynamic or changing
traits, Prof. Steve Miller feels an
individual bull's progress can be
followed over time, rather than foc-
using on static or fixed measurements.
Traditional beef cattle genetic
evaluations consider characteristics
such as birth weight or fat thickness
measured only at one year of age.
They give greater importance to these
, checkpoints rather than the desired
end product: a beef steer that has
attained an optimal weight and fat
thickness for market. With repeated
measurements of dynamic traits over
the span of the bulls on test, the
accuracy of genetic evaluations will
improve.
"Weight gain rates will vary for
each animal, depending on growth
conditions and genetic make-up," says
Miller. "Overall, a beef steer's weight
and fat thickness will only matter
once it's ready to go to market — not
at birth, or when it's one year old."
On a four-month research study in
Australia in 1998, Miller analyzed
data, previously collected by
Australia's Beef Cattle Co-operative
Research Centre, on 3000 steers.
Uniquely, this centre had taken
repeated carcass trait measurements,
using ultra sound, between the period
of weaning and slaughter. Carcass
measurements included weight,
growth rate, back -fat depth, and rib -
eye area. Analysis of the data gave
Miller an insight into the usefulness of
repeated ultrasound measurements to
improve genetic evaluation of bulls.
Now, as a continuation of his
study, Miller is taking similar
measurements from steers at the Elora
Research Station. The data collected
will help him expand and validate the
work he did in Australia and
hopefully show that the usefulness of
multiple carcass measurements
outweigh the cost of using ultrasound.
Miller hopes his research will
contribute to the information database
already collected on 50,000 bulls that
have gone through Beef Improvement
Ontario's Bull Evaluation Program
sine the 1970s.
"This novel genetic evaluation
model will allow us to be more
flexible and ultimately, more efficient
at predicting carcass traits in
commercial steers," he said.0
— Source: Centre for Genetic
Improvement of Livestock
Researchers look at anti -biotic alternatives
Australian researchers are working
with small proteins that bacteria use
like missiles to fight off competing
bacteria in a bid to develop treatments
that might one day partly replace
antibiotics for animals.
The animal health division of the
Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organization
(CSIRO) has started two research
projects on the proteins, called bact-
eriocins, with the aim of identifying
some that will fill bacteria that cause
common diseases in chickens and pigs.
Adrian Hodgson, animal health
vaccines and immunotherapeutics •
program manager, said research
already exists into using bacteriocins
to create safe food packaging and
assist in food preservation. "This is the
first time that the use of bacteriocins to
fight disease will be researched."
Hodgson said the major advantage
of using bacteriocins in this way is that
it will reduce the risk of human patho-
gens becoming resistant to antibiotics.
The problem with antibiotic residues
in meat will be avoided because anim-
als quickly break down bacteriocins.
"Our strategy will be to first
identify known bacteriocins that are
useful in fighting off bacterial diseases
of pigs and chickens," Hodgson said.
Another aim of the research project
will be to consider how to reduce the
risk of bacteria developing resistance
against bacteriocins.0
— Source: CSIRO news release