Producers weigh in on EBV compensation

Rodger Jefferis from Elrose Brahmans at Theodore said EBV data should be paid for, particularly given the increase in desirability for the data in informing herd selection.

"Of course I think they should be paying for EBV data, I think as more and more producers understand the benefits of using EBVs to guarantee their profitability, they will start paying more," he said.

"You have only got to look at what the Angus breed have done, there is no doubt that the uptake and the use of the data will increase here.

"We are a fairly large Brahman stud, we have been performing, testing and using EBVs for 30 years and we have clients now that deal with us because they can look at our EBVs and ask for what they want.

"I would prefer that the data was not free but there is not much that can be done about it."

Mr Jefferis is a former president of the Australian Brahman Breeders Association and argued there should be compensation for the extra cost of recording the data and submitting it.

"Anyone that has never spent a cent on data, can now go and pull some tail hair and get a genomic EBV, even though someone else has spent a lot of money over the years providing that data," Mr Jefferis said.

"If you look at it that way, it is a very unfair system because the people who made it all possible, aren't getting compensated in any way."

Beef breeding consultant Don Nicol of Breedlink said EBVs were genetic tools both breeders and buyers used.

"Realistically, breeders should be using the EBVs for selection of replacement animals as should the commercial buyer," he said.

"The reality is that stud cattle breeding and bull selling is the most competitive part of the beef industry, and who pays for what will find a balance...if a breeder says they only provide the EBVs for the customers and don't use the data themselves, then I really question why they are in the game.

"Each breeder should have a breeding objective and the EBVs are a tool to help them get to that long term objective, so how well they choose animals at each point, will determine the genetic improvement of their herd.

"The commercial guy is one to two generations behind the stud guy and he wants to buy part of that genetic gain that the stud guy has...realistically, the commercial guy has got to pay, and what's happened is, it has developed in the different breeds."

Mr Nicol said that generally buyers still used other measures, in addition to EBV data, to inform their cattle purchasing decisions.

"They (commercial buyers) wait for the catalogues to come out, they look at the pictures, they look at the data and they make decisions, and that shows good balance," he said.

"Blind selection with EBVs was never a way to go, nor was single trait selection.

"We know that over time for Queensland, we need much better coat types, British breeds, we need higher fertility...EBVs are an important tool to get there."

ABBA BIN project manager John Croaker said the concept of genomic breeding values had expanded the range of traits and improved the accuracy of EBVs, and the ability to pull hairs, had made the data available to anybody that wanted them, not just those who were measuring the data.

"It's the genomic concept we should be talking about, rather than just a straight EBV argument," he said.

He said change was needed to ensure the business model was set up to compensate the people putting the expense in and collecting the data, including the breed societies, which contributed to the hard to measure traits.

"The breed societies have been putting quite a lot of effort and expense into developing the reference populations," he said.

"Meat and Livestock Australia have been supporting the establishment of reference populations but the latest word from them is that they expect reference populations will be self funding.

"Somewhere in the system there is going to have to be some cost recovery and the ideal concept for cost recovery, is to try and generate some money where the benefits are...possibly through the members who are producing the easier to measure traits, but which, nevertheless contribute to the value of the EBVs that are available through genomics."

Jim Wedge from Ascot Cattle Co at Warwick said commercial producers shouldn't have to pay for EBV data.

He said it was the responsibility of a good seedstock producer to collect the data for their clients to equip them with the information to make the right decision about what bulls to buy.

"The EBV data is important for seedstock producers in the joinings we do, which take the beef industry forward," he said.

"I think it is the seedstock producer's responsibility to pay for it.

"We see more and more of our clients looking at the EBV data when they buy bulls...five years ago there wasn't that many and now there is because they can see the benefit of which bull is going to suit them best.

"The importance and use of EBV data will only increase as time goes on."

Mr Wedge said the addition of genomics into EBVs had made them even more accurate.

"I think it is the responsibility of a good seedstock producer to use genomics and all the necessary information that is out there to breed better bulls to take the industry forward," he said.