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Submitted to: Journal of Animal Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/1997 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: The shift in perspectives about livestock improvement over a 70-year period is reviewed. The view changes from livestock improvement being an art, through it becoming a science to its application as a technology in industry. Implementation of scientific tools in corporate settings for poultry, dairy and swine breeding usually involve a strong focus on the economics of production and this focus determines that selection indexes should be used. This focus has not seemed to be present in breeding for the extensively managed species and classes of livestock but seems needed to provide a basis for organization and direction of positive contributions of the breeding segment to the production segment. Technical Abstract: This review encourages that breeding industries for extensively managed classes of livestock, through their breed associations and in conjunction with genetic evaluation procedures, use selection tools that have more effectively been utilized in the intensively managed classes of livestock, poultry and swine. Primary among these tools is the incorporation of genetic evaluations for pertinent traits into mathematical functions reflecting the economic objectives of producers when utilizing genetic material, particularly herd sires or A.I. semen. These breeding objectives/functions should also reflect the role of the breeds in crossbreeding system. Economically based breeding objectives and selection indexes can provide valid direction for each breeder's improvement efforts and provide structure for the flow of improvements from breeding segments to production segments of each industry. It is doubtful that proper direction and flow are being achieved without these tools. |
