Examine your herd with the Angus Report Centre

The release of the Angus Database Search Report Centre presents members with an amazing opportunity to examine their herd. Selection of the top performing animals is a key step to achieving genetic gain and the report centre enables this selection to be done at a herd level.  

Often within cattle breeding programs significant selection pressure and intensity is applied to the selection of a bull. This is very important, however the bull only represents part of the genetic gain picture and if we are to improve the herd we need to ensure we are putting equal selection pressure on the females. 

Whether selection is for replacement heifers or future donor cows the focus should be on selecting the top performing animals, which meet the requirements for traits in our breeding objective. For any trait, there will be typically a bell curve distribution of breeding values within the herd. With the Angus Database Search Report Centre members can now examine the distribution of breeding values within their herd, for any trait currently recorded in the Angus BREEDPLAN, with the Trait Distribution report.  

Using the Report Centre to analysis the distribution of breeding values for a trait within your herd is simple. One of the most powerful ways to use the reporting centre is to identify the top proportion of your heifers and the following example will show you how.  

1. As a registered user, go to the Angus Database Search and under ‘Additional Selection Criteria’ select the ‘Ownership’ tab.  
2. Select ‘Yes’ for ‘Currently in My Herd’ and click on the ‘Animal Detail’ tab.  
3. Select ‘Female’ for ‘Sex’ and for calving year, type the year the heifers were born, i.e. 2017, in the box provided  
4. Click the ‘Search’ button at the bottom of the page.  
5. From the Search options at the top of the page select ‘Go to Report Centre’ and select the ‘Trait Distribution’ report under ‘Analyse Results’.
   
   
6. Select the trait you are most interested in, such as ‘IMF’
   
   
7. This will bring up a graph displaying all the females born in your herd in 2017 and groups them based on their IMF breeding values. In the example provided below, we can see that 5 of the 2017 heifers have a IMF breeding value of between 3.6 and 4.1
   
8. Click on the column to view the details on the animals which are included in the group, the bar will become orange once selected.
   
9. To print or save a copy of the Trait Distribution graph click the ‘Download Trait Distribution Report’ 

The trait distribution report is just one of a number of reporting options available to members through the Angus Database Search Report Centre. These reports provide valuable insight into a herd and can be applied to any search undertaken within the Angus Australia Database, including sale and semen catalogues.  

For further information or support contact staff at Angus Australia on (02) 6773 4600 or office@angusaustralia.com.au