Empirical Progeny Equivalent of Genotyped Animals in a Multi-breed Beef Cattle Genetic Evaluation Using a Single-step Bayesian Regression Model

The objective of this study was to measure the accuracies of genomic enhanced EPDs of genotyped animals in an international multi-breed beef cattle genetic evaluation using single-step Bayesian regression model. The average Breed Improvement Federation (BIF) accuracies of genotyped animals with no progeny information compared to the average BIF accuracies of non-genotyped sires with different number of progenies with observed phenotypes. The results show that the BIF accuracy of a genotyped animal is equivalent to the BIF accuracy of a non-genotyped sire with 21, 22 and 24 progeny with observed phenotypes for birth, weaning and yearling weights, respectively. The empirical progeny equivalent (PE) for calving ease direct and total maternal were 15 and 3, and it was 18 and 25 for milk and stayability, respectively. These results demonstrate the value of DNA testing of selection candidates for beef cattle breeders across the world