Industry Development

Another critical element of delivering Eating Quality is ensuring that the right genetics is on the farm. This involves making sure you have the right animals in the right place, as well as, and more importantly, the healthiest, most productive animals possible.

Our pioneering project looking at utilising maternal DNA for traceability and performance concluded in 2021 and demonstrated the potential of harnessing maternal DNA from beef cattle to guarantee traceability, produce performance KPIs, and build world-leading genomic mapping to improve the health of our national herd.

Read the summary report from the project, or if you want more information please get in touch.

Away from cattle genetics, we have been key partners in a UK-wide sheep genetics project called RamCompare which enables the UK sheep industry to drive genetic improvement forward through the inclusion of commercial data in genetic evaluations.

By the end of Year Five, the project had tested 283 rams from 11 breeds with over 26,000 of their progeny. It is one of the largest trials of its kind.