Agricultural News
American Angus Association Rolls Out New Genomically Enhanced EPD Index Data Set
Thu, 22 Aug 2019 10:49:46 CDT
The American Angus Association has had a lot on its plate recently, according to the organization's president and Oklahoma Angus breeder, John Pfeiffer. In a recent interview with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays, Pfeiffer talked about the recent rollout of the association's new EPD indexes that were developed using genomically enhanced EPD calculations.
"We released our update $Beef, our $Maternal Index and then eventually we will have a $C Index that will be release next year in May," Pfeiffer reported. "We decided rather than release them all at the same time, we were going to spend a year educating people how this index is calculated, what all is in it and so we're in the process of educating people so they can better understand it."
Pfeiffer says the association's purebred stakeholders will continue to find these updated EPDs useful, but says the commercial cattleman will especially find value in them - particularly in regard to the $C index which he says factors in and consolidates all the EPD information into one reference. Each of the new indexes though can be used for specific purposes depending on a producer's particular interest or goals.
"We're trying to provide a lot of things for different commercial producers to use which are probably of more value to them then the registered breeder," he said. "We've spent a lot of time making them, researching them and we think we've put together a real good set of data. Now, does that mean we are done with them - no. There will continue to be fine tuning which has to be done as we see things and as new research becomes available."
Listen to Pfeiffer's full conversation with Hays about the American Angus Association's new genomic EPD indexes, on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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