When cow-calf producers head out to buy a young bull at auction — an animal crucial to the herd’s success for years to come — they really don’t know what they’re getting.
Knowing the bull’s genomic information is critically important because, on average, 75 per cent of a calf crop’s genetics come from bulls used in the last two generations, 50 per cent from the current sire, and 25 per cent from the maternal grandsire.
Dr. Bart Lardner (PhD) thinks it’s time to apply better technology so producers can make informed decisions about the future of their herds.
“For years, they’ve made that decision based on visual assessment,” said Lardner, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture Strategic Research Program Chair in Cow-Calf and Forage Systems, in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan (USask).
“Producers go in the back and visually assess the bulls on offer, kick the tires, check out feet and legs, girth, all kinds of things they look at.”
But that hardly guarantees a reproductively sound young bull once relocated to the farm or ranch.
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