![ABRI technical officer Paul Williams. Picture: Kelly Mason ABRI technical officer Paul Williams. Picture: Kelly Mason](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/229094580/5e1d8bbd-4f72-43c0-ae0e-8b029959f3b4.jpg/r0_0_4088_2725_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
As more commercial cattle producers use estimated breeding values, questions have been raised as to whether there is sufficient incentive for seedstock producers to continue to provide data for EBVs at no cost.
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ABRI technical officer Paul Williams was among the guest speakers at the Brian Pastures Field Day near Gayndah last Wednesday, where he spoke to producers about the evaluation projects being undertaken.
He told Queensland Country Life while seedstock producers were currently investing in supplying the EBV data for prospective buyers to utilise, at some stage, that may have to change.
Mr Williams said that he hoped that it would get to a point where there would be incentive for the people investing the time and money into providing the data.
"Hopefully, that is where it gets to," he said.
"I do think there is a start of a turn, especially if you get a good polled bull, producers are paying more for them because they have a bit of data around them now.
"The last few years some of the top selling bulls have been ones with good figures...last year at Brahman week, bulls with really bad figures struggled to sell, which would have sold previously."
He said while visual attributes were still king for people selecting seedstock animals, companies were driving the demand for figures.
"I think a lot of it is being driven by companies, they want figures, which helps start the trend to get more people looking at it (EBVs)," he said.
"Commercial buyers are getting a lot more switched on and wanting that information as well, to get better bulls when they are buying.
"They want some information when they are buying a bull rather than just raw figures when they turn up at a sale."
At the field day, Mr Williams spoke on the Northern Steer BIN Project, which has been running for nine years.
Growth and carcase data has been recorded to contribute to Breedplan genomic evaluations.
A total of 3500 steers have gone through the project including 1600 Brahmans, 1400 Droughtmasters and 506 Santa Gertrudis.
Mr Williams said the project had provided important data for multi-breed genetic evaluation that would help producers make informed decisions.