Genetic evaluation is the process of combining individual animal performance and ancestry data along with information on contributing non-genetic effects, to estimate the genetic merit of individuals. This is a routine process in all developed countries, with the outcome being estimates of genetic merit for individual animals. Genetic evaluations are undertaken either by breed associations (e.g., United States, Canada), nationally (e.g., Ireland), or international organizations (e.g., BREEDPLAN, INTERBULL). Seedstock breeders are those who produce germplasm for general use in the commercial population; it is the seedstock breeders, therefore, who have a vested interest in the recording of performance data, and, in many countries, it is only data from these breeders that are used in the genetic evaluations. Data, however, also exists from commercial herds—it is these herds that are the actual users of the seedstock germplasm. Leveraging these data has many benefits, as evidenced in some countries; capturing the performance and ancestry data, as well as information on contributing non-genetic effects in these commercial herds is, however, not trivial.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.