Accelerating genetic improvement via genomic testing has been available to US dairy producers for more than five years. Until genomics became available, it was difficult to justify female selection of low heritability traits… the information was too low accuracy and slow from traditional methods. With the advent of genomic evaluations and the greatly improved accuracy it brings to genetic estimates, it’s important to re-evaluate long-held beliefs with the improved gains that can be made in low heritability traits.
The seventh installment of this video series covers “Making Genetic Progress on Low Heritability Traits”:
- What does low heritability mean?
- How do GPTA’s translate to real herd differences in low heritability traits?
- Proof it works
- Why some herds may see better results
Presenter
Dr. Weigel grew up in Iowa on the family farm (Weigeline Holsteins) and graduated from Iowa State University with a Degree in Dairy Science. He received both his M.S. and PhD from Virginia Tech, with his dissertation focusing on the prediction of genetic merit for lifetime profitability in Holsteins. Before joining the R&D group of Zoetis (formerly Pfizer Animal Health) in 1995, Dr. Weigel served as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Guelph working on the implementation of Multiple Across Country Evaluations (MACE) for conformation traits of Holstein sires. Dr. Weigel’s current role with Zoetis is in Outcomes Research and he remains active as a breeder of Registered Holsteins.
Genomic Webinar Series
A webinar series developed by Zoetis and Holstein Association USA will be an educational resource for current and prospective CLARIFIDE® customers and Enlight™ users.
Through a series of online presentations dairy producers will be able to better understand:
- How genomic testing works
- How genetic improvement and genomics can benefit the future of their herd
- How to utilize the data generated from genomic testing to make more effective management decisions.
The webinars will be moderated by The Bullvine with presentations by Zoetis or Holstein Association personnel. The Bullvine is an online source for dairy genetic and other industry happenings around the world, through their coverage via articles, videos and podcasts. Viewers will attend the presentation live at a specified time and date, and archived presentations will be accessible through other websites after each presentation.
The following webinars will take place from Noon Eastern time (9:00 a.m. Pacific time) as follows:
| Topic/Title | Speaker | Date |
| An introduction to genomics | Cheryl Marti | July 8 |
| Proving the technology works: How producers have benefited from using genomics | Dan Weigel | August 5 |
| Using genomics testing strategies to accelerate genetic progress | David Erf | August 26 |
| The economics of genomics | Cheryl Marti | October 7 |
| Putting genomic results to work | Lindsey Worden | November 4 |
| Moving Beyond Phenotype: genomics vs. size-based traits | David Erf | December 2 |
| Making progress on low heritability traits | Dan Weigel | January 6 |
This webinar is proudly sponsored by:
![zoetis[1]](https://www.thebullvine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/zoetis1.jpg)
