The advanced genomic tool toinform the selection of replacement heifers for

commercial Australian Angus breeders

ANGUS HeiferSELECT™

Herds with a superior genetic profile have a fundamental advantage over other herds and will outperform their contemporaries over their lifetime. It is in their DNA.

Effective selection of replacement females is one of the most challenging aspects of commercial cow-calf production.

Producers must decide whether a given heifer can be a productive and profitable breeding female before she has had an opportunity to express productivity associated with profitability, including fertility, calving ease, milking ability, growth and mature size. This makes it critical for producers to select and develop the right replacement heifers – and consistently mate them to complementary sires - to optimise profitability.

The choice for commercial producers is not: optimise nutrition and animal health OR optimise

genetics

The choice for commercial producers is: optimise nutrition and animal health AND optimise

genetics

Angus HeiferSELECT™ is a genomic selection tool to help inform the selection of Angus replacement heifers (87.5% black Angus content or greater) in a commercial breeding operation.

It has been created in collaboration between Angus Australia and Zoetis, the global leading genomic testing service organisation.

Angus HeiferSELECT™ provides genetic predictions, including:

Total Breeding Value

Eight (8) important maternal, growth and carcase traits

DNA sire identification to a sire registered with Angus Australia

Angus HeiferSELECT™ Star Rating for easy interpretation

The test results are based on genomic predictions coupled with Angus BREEDPLAN EBV information of known relatives.

ANGUS HeiferSELECT™

GENETICS – THE FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCK

SUPERIOR DECISIONSGenetic testing results of a herd enable superior decision making for producers.

Selection Decisions – identify females that will deliver the best outcomes into the future as the basis for rebuilding your herd

Breeding Decisions – identify females that have the greatest reproductive potential and are the best cattle to retain as replacement heifers

Culling Decisions – identify females that are genetically inferior and therefore may be the best choice for culling

Bull Selection Decisions – utilising results from tested heifers is helpful for producers in fine-tuning their bull buying whereby Angus HeiferSELECT™ ratings and individual trait predictions point to specific opportunities for improvement (i.e. marbling and gain), and help guide producers to the most complementary Angus bulls

Manage Inbreeding Decisions – use sire discovery information to avoid inbreeding and associated depression in performance primarily related to reproductive, survival and fitness traits

Marketing Decisions – information from tested heifers can be used to help inform commercial marketing opportunities

EASY TO UNDERSTAND REPORTSA simple to read report with a star rating system and an intuitive 1 to 100 scoring system ranks animals on their overall genetic potential for the traits listed below. Higher values are generally better, with a score of 50 representing the average genetic merit of commercial Angus heifers tested with the Angus HeiferSELECT™ product.

KEY INFORMATION IMPORTANCE OF THIS INFORMATION

Tag Identifies the tag number and Angus Australia ID

Most Likely Sire Reports the registered Angus Australia sire most likely to be the sire

Total Breeding Value Quantifies the overall genetic potential

Angus HeiferSELECT™ Star Rating Captures and compares overall genetic merit in an easy to understand manner

KEY INDIVIDUAL TRAIT IMPORTANCE OF THIS TRAIT

Cow

Val

ue

1 Calving Ease Direct (CED)

Higher Calving Ease Direct genetic predictions indicate an animal is expected to experience fewer calving difficulties, and produce female progeny that experience few calving difficulties as a 2 year old heifer (i.e. greater calving ease).

2 200 Day Growth (200D)Higher 200 Day Growth genetic predictions indicate the animal is expected to produce progeny with heavier live weights at 200 days of age, due to superior growth potential.

3 Milk (Milk)

Higher Milk genetic predictions indicate the animal is expected to produce heavier calves at 200 days of age, and produce female progeny with heavier calves at 200 days of age, due to superior maternal attributes (e.g. more milk).

4 Mature Cow Weight (MCW)

Higher Mature Cow Weight genetic predictions indicate the animal is expected to have a heavier weight at maturity, and produce female progeny with heavier weight at maturity. Heavier mature weights are associated with higher feed and maintenance costs, but conversely higher returns for cull cows.

Carc

ase

Valu

e

5 Carcase Weight (CW)Higher Carcase Weight genetic predictions indicate the animal is expected to produce progeny with heavier carcase weights at 750 days of age.

6 Eye Muscle Area (EMA)Higher EMA genetic predictions indicate the animal is expected to produce progeny with larger eye muscle area, relative to carcase weight.

7 Rib Fat (Rib fat) Higher Rib Fat genetic predictions indicate the animal is expected to produce progeny with greater fat depth, relative to carcase weight.

8 Intramuscular Fat (IMF)Higher IMF genetic predictions indicate the animal is expected to produce progeny with a higher percentage of intramuscular fat (marbling), relative to carcase weight.

EXAMPLE of Angus HeiferSELECT™ RESULTS REPORT

NEXT STEPS

To comm

ence an Angus H

eiferSELECT™ testing program, or

for more inform

ation on this product contact Angus A

ustralia on 02 6773 4600, visit w

ww

.angusaustralia.com.au

or your local Zoetis representative on 1300 768 400 or visit w

ww

.zoetis.com.au

ANGUS HeiferSELECT™Tag

AA

Ident

Most Likely Sire

Cow

ValueC

arcase Value

Total Breeding

ValueA

ngus HeiferSELEC

T™Stars

Notes

Sire AA

IdentC

EDW

WM

ilkM

CW

CW

EMA

Rib

FatIM

F

K1

AB

CK

1U

SA16396499

7673

7746

7460

8538

59★

★ ★

K2

AB

CK

2H

IOE7

6373

8064

8568

3172

77★

★ ★

★

Angus H

eiferSELECT™ is available to A

ngus producers who are utilising registered A

ustralian Angus sires in their breeding program

To access the Angus H

eiferSELECT™ product, producers need to be a com

mercial m

ember of A

ngus Australia.

The annual cost of comm

ercial mem

bership is currently $A88 (incl. G

ST)

Order D

NA

Collector Kits:

a) Hair sam

ples from A

ngus Australia or

b) TSU sam

ples from Zoetis or your local agricultural m

erchandise store

Collect DN

A sam

ples and return to Angus A

ustralia with an A

ngus HeiferSELEC

T™ order form.

Angus H

eiferSELECT™ results w

ill be provided via: a) A

n electronic report, provided via email

b) The Angus H

eiferSELECT™ online genetic m

anagement system

on the Angus A

ustralia website (w

ww

.angusaustralia.com.au)

Each report displays the data and traits for each animal in a table form

at. This enables a clear comparison betw

een cattle and when com

bined with the A

ngus HeiferSELEC

T™ star rating system

, provides an outstanding managem

ent tool to assist with superior decision m

aking.

86 Glen Innes R

oad, A

rmidale, N

SW 2350

Zoetis Australia Pty Ltd. ABN 94 156 476 425.Level 6, 5 Rider Boulevard, Rhodes NSW

2138.©

2017 Zoetis Inc. All rights reserved. ww

w.zoetis.com.au

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