Reiland bulls genomically tested for longevity, feed intake and carcase traits

Reiland Receiver R952 is a star lot in the Reiland autumn catalogue and ranks highly for marbling, calving ease and birthweight.

The majority of bulls to be offered by Reiland Angus at the autumn sale on April 21 have been beef profile tested.

This system from genetic technology company, Neogen, uses genomic markers to determine an animal’s performance potential for 16 different traits via tissue sampling.

Igenity Beef is validated by the 16 million records in the International Genetic Solutions (IGS) database. IGS provide performance recording for more than 450,000 animals per year for all major breeds, both British and European and their crosses.

Reiland Angus co-principal Mark Lucas said the genomic profiling was in response to client demand and it delivered more information than BREEDPLAN for a range of traits.

These include longevity, or the genetic potential for females to remain in the herd for six years; carcase tenderness or how easy the beef will be to eat; and carcase marbling, the marbling potential of a carcase. Intramuscular marbling has a significantly lower correlation to actual marbling.

Residue feed intake is also included and is the difference in an animal’s daily consumption of feed to achieve the same level of gain – lower RFI equals greater feed efficiency.

In US research, 4000 mixed sex British bred heifers and steers showed a 90 per cent correlation to feedlot and carcase traits. These included average daily gain, carcase weight, marbling, tenderness, eye muscle area and rib fatness.

Dick Whale, Independent Breeding and Marketing Service, will be available on sale day at Reiland to discuss with buyers the genomic results on individual bulls.

Mr Lucas said this was the third year Reiland had genomically tested sale bulls for stayability, actual marbling and tenderness.

“The bulls are tissue sampled at vet testing with the samples sent to Neogen for extracting the data using Ingenity Beef technology,” he said.

“Reiland is aiming to become an industry leader in the traits commercial producers need to focus on, including carcase tenderness, marbling, feed intake and stayablity.”

Mr Lucas said 35 per cent of the bulls in the Reiland autumn catalogue ranked in the top 15 per cent for marbling on BREEDPLAN.

Offering 75 bulls, the Reiland Angus autumn sale will be held at Killimicat Station, Tumut, on Wednesday, April 21 at 1.30pm and will be interfaced with AuctionsPlus.

Reiland Angus has also announced a feature female sale on May 13 to be held on AuctionsPlus.