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Title: EFFECT OF RANDOM SIRE AND DAM EFFECTS ON ESTIMATES AND STANDARD ERRORS OF BREED COMPARISONS

Author
item BARKHOUSE K L - UNIV OF NEBRASKA
item VAN VLECK L D - 5438-01-30
item KACHMAN S D - UNIV OF NEBRASKA
item CUNDIFF L V - 5438-01-30

Submitted to: Journal of Animal Science Supplement
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/10/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Data on birth (BWT, n = 4282), weaning (WWT, n = 3957) and yearling (YWT, n=3672) weights (kg) of F1 calves from 13 sire breeds mated to Hereford or Angus dams were obtained from the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, Clay Center, Nebraska. Three analyses were performed on each trait to obtain estimates and standard errors of breed comparisons with Angus. Such comparisons and standard errors are needed for predicting across breed expected progeny differences (EPD) and their accuracies. The model for the first analysis (F) contained fixed effects for sex of calf x birth year x age of dam x breed of dam subclass and breed of sire. The models for the second and third analyses added random effects for sire (S), and sire and dam (SD). Estimates of breed comparisons were similar for F, S and SD. Estimates of sire variances from S and SD were similar for all traits, while total variance generally increased for SD relative to F and S. Average apparent standard errors of breed comparisons were underestimated by F, while standard errors from S and SD were similar. Ignoring random variation due to sires results in underestimation of standard errors of breed comparisons and overestimation of accuracies of differences of across breed EPD's.