Using On Farm Performance Testing To Improve Your Herd

Ken Andries, Ph.D.Kentucky State University

College of Agriculture, Food Science, and Sustainable Systems

Goat Production Philosophy A cull is a cull no matter what the

papers say!!!Sale barns are for selling – not buying!!!Check the performance before you look

at the animalAn inch longer is pounds heavier, an

inch taller is an inch tallerYou can afford to spend on a buck the

value of 3 - 5 does the of the same quality.

The ugly doe is the best producer – otherwise you’d sell her.

Adapted from Cow Production Philosophy, Ideal Beef Memo – November 1983

“In most commercial pedigrees little information of any kind is included except the names and identifying numbers of the animals. Such a pedigree is useful only to the extent that one knows or can find from some other source how meritorious or mediocre those ancestors were.”

J.L. Lush, Animal Breeding Plans. 1945

Quick History of Performance TestingDairy herds started measuring performance

in the 50’s and 60’s for milk production.Beef cattle started CHIP in the 1960’sBeef moved to performance pedigrees and

then to EPDs in the 70’s and 80’sSheep started flock EPD’sResearch into use of DNA assisted selection

(genomics) in the 2000’s for many species.

Results in Beef CattleAverage weaning weight has increased by 150%

(175 lbs) with small increases in birth weight.Calving difficulty has been reduced greatly.Carcass traits are now an economical trait for

cow/calf producers.Most commercial beef cattle producers utilize data

in selecting bulls.AI has become very wide spread in the commercial

industry partly due to performance data.Key, it did not happen over night and started with

simple data collection.

Importance of RecordsCannot Manage what you don’t Measure!!!!Selection on performance is required to

improve performance.Records give you the ability to measure long

term trends and change directions as needed.They provide information needed to better

market your animals.Show you where you are as well as where you

are headed.

What traits can we Improve?Production

Multiple birth rateGrowth – birth to weaning/market/yearlingMothering abilityCarcass traits, live grade.

Health TraitsParasite resistanceFoot health issues

Feed conversion, type traits, structure, etc.

Starting a Performance ProgramSet goals for your farm

Short and long term goals are importantBe realistic in your goals

Discuss these with others involved with your farm.

Write down the goalsStart collecting the necessary data to

measure your progress.

What is “On-Farm Testing”Performance records collected by you and

submitted to a central processing location for adjustment and evaluation.

It is the starting point for more formal and accurate data reporting and performance evaluation programs.

It is designed to improve selection efficient within your herd.

Program can be tailored to meet your specific needs.

Standard programs are designed for the major economically important traits.

On-Farm TestingProvides you a way to measure your

performance. Provides standardized data to help you

compare and select animals to meet production goals.

Provides information on kids, dams, and sires for selection and evaluation.

The only way to really know what is going on with performance.

Should focus on economically important traits.

What are the economically important traits?Reproduction: most important in all livestock

enterprises except feedlots and stocker operations.

Growth: Second most important in all types of livestock enterprises regardless of market.

Health: very critical to small ruminant producers. Should be part of your goals, exact importance

may vary depending on current situation of individual herds.

Carcass: not a lot for goats at this time.Live grade plays some part but goats are not

often marketed on a grid where you would be paid for carcass traits over live traits.

Data Needed for ProgramBirth Data:

Kid and dam ID Birth date and weight Sex Type of birth

Weaning Data: Weaning date and weight

Other Information Breed or cross Sire ID Age of dam in years

Can still use data if birth weight is not available, not as accurate but still useful.

Other data is used for adjustments.

What can we see with the data overall data set?

Combined Kid DataTrait N TOP 25% MEAN BOTTOM 25%

BWT 5472 8.6 7.57 6.5

WNWT 4680 44.0 37.30 29.8

ADG 4564 0.40 0.33 0.25

ADJ WNWT 4579 49.37 42.81 34.32

Combined Dam DataTrait N TOP 25% MEAN BOTTOM

25%# BORN 3057 2 1.84 1BWT 2906 16.75 13.64 9.5# WEANED 2955 2 1.56 1WNWT 2702 76.4 61.38 41ADJ WNWT 2093 89.02 69.70 43.34SURVIVAL 3055 100 83.72 75DOE WT@WN

1586 117 101.22 84

EFFECIENCY 1545 75.64 60.54 24.22

Combined Sire DataTrait N TOP

25%MEAN BOTTOM

25%# BORN 293 24 17.81 4AVG BWT 279 8.42 7.71 6.95# WEANED 292 19 14.59 3AVG WNWT

283 42.33 39.32 31.42

AVG ADJ WNWT

283 46.38 41.87 35.47

Birth Type Comparisons# BORN Birth

WT1 2 3 4

1 9.03 0.220 <0.01 <0.01 <0.012 7.87 0.216 <0.01 <0.013 6.80 0.228 0.054 6.25 0.346

Type of birth is significant in birth weight evaluation and needs to be adjusted for to get an accurate comparison between individuals.

Rearing Type Effect.REARING ADG B to

WSE Weaning

WtSE

SN-SN 0.35a 0.010 42.61a 1.288SN-TN 0.33ab 0.022 38.24b 2.169TN-SN 0.32bc 0.012 35.65b 1.265TN-TN 0.30b 0.010 35.65b 1.205TR-SN 0.32b 0.020 35.62b 2.024TR-TN 0.28cd 0.012 32.23c 1.452TR-TR 0.27d 0.011 30.44d 1.365

Means with different superscripts differ significantly (P<.05).

Effect of Sex on WeightsSEX Birth

WtSE ADG B

to WSE WN WT SE

BUCK 7.75 0.218 0.31 0.010 36.68 1.300

DOE 6.94 0.218 0.27 0.010 32.15 1.306

WETHER

0.32 0.017 36.71 1.807Doe kids were lighter and grow slower to

weaning than male kids. Buck and Wether were similar, possibly due to low numbers reported

Breed Differences from DataLarge data set with different breeds and

crosses needed to be accurate.Still need more numbers to make an accurate

comparison.Use herd ID to account for different locations

and management and year of record to account for other environment differences.

Some general information can be useful.

Animals Reported ¾ or higher of one breed:Breed Birth

WtADG B to W

WN WT

BR 7.87 0.32 36.87KK 7.84 0.36 39.39SP 6.52 0.29 33.32SV 8.19 0.35 35.29OTHER

7.93 0.33 36.26

Spanish Significantly lighter than others at birth and KK at weaning, tended to be slower growing than KK and SV and tended to be lighter than BR at weaning.

Breed Cross ComparisonCROSS Birth Wt ADG B to

WWeaning Wt

BRX 7.44 0.31 37.52KKX 7.41 0.29 34.82SPX 7.07 0.27 35.12SVX 7.68 0.27 32.66XX 7.61 0.29 35.55

BRX gained faster than SPX and BRX heavier than SPX and SVX at weaning.

The KYSU GHIP programThis program is free to anyone that wants to

participate.You keep the data necessary from birth to weaning on

kids.Send data in to me and I will perform adjustments and

send you summary sheets.Over time information on overall averages and ranges

will be provided to help you evaluate your herd.Data sheets are available, best way to contact is e-

mail at kenneth.andries@kysu.edu or phone at 502-597-5094

What You Get Back:Birth and weaning weight adjusted for type of

birth/rearing, sex, age of dam.Weaning weight adjusted to a 90 day standard.Birth and weaning weight performance ratioDam summary showing: number of kids

born/weaned, total actual and adjusted birth and weaning weight for each doe.

If sire ID provided sire summary with average actual and adjusted birth and weaning weights for each sire used and number of kids he sired at birth and weaning.

Other Program InformationParticipation is freeI will not share your information with anyone

other than you.You can use the data for selection and marketing if

you desire.No minimum or maximum number of animalsOpen to all producers regardless of breed, cross

or type of operationYou will still need to evaluate structure and type

traits for your animals and have control over selection

“In each generation of animals in his herd or flock, the breeder must select those to be saved for breeding from those to be used for other purposes. Perhaps he will also select animals from other herds for use as breeders in his. These are the most important things he does.” Breeding Better Livestock. Rice, Andrews, and Warwick 1953

Questions?E-mail: Kenneth.andries@kysu.eduOffice Phone: 502-597-5094Mobile Phone: 502-803-0031