A better carcase, through better EBVs

Improving carcase quality is something achievable with EBVs and a recent project examined how well the EBVs of sires entered into the ASBP predicted the performance of their progeny. The work found that the EBVs of sires in cohorts 5,6 and 7 provided an accurate prediction of their carcase genetics, particularly for carcase weight, EMA and IMF, and can be used with confidence when selecting animals for superior carcase genetics.

For intramuscular fat (IMF), the project found the difference between the average Birth Weight EBV of the highest and lowest 10 Birth Weight EBV sires in each cohort was on average 2.6%, across cohorts 5, 6 and 7. This equates to an expected difference in the average IMF of progeny between sire groups of 1.3%. The predicted difference is only half the difference in the EBVs, as the sires only contribute to half of their progeny’s genetics.