Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915

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Author: search.filters.author.Sneddon NWSubject: search.filters.subject.breeding

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    Preferences in traits and management characteristics for dairy-beef animals from a survey of New Zealand farmers
    (Taylor and Francis Group on behalf of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2025-05-19) Sneddon NW; Corner-Thomas RA; Kenyon PR; Brier D
    There are three parties involved in the expansion of dairy-beef or beef-on-dairy within New Zealand, they are namely, beef breeders, dairy farmers and beef finishers. Within these three groups, there are different requirements for an animal within each those industries. In 2022, Beef + Lamb New Zealand conducted a survey to collect responses from 121 respondents across these 3 parties, to gauge farmer preferences. The survey contained questions relating to the management of young cattle from birth through to weaning or sale (depending on management practice), and then from weaning or purchase through to finishing. All farmers were asked what traits they selected for in bulls, and what they based purchasing decisions on. The results showed a series of trends, related to breed choice, price and perceived benefit to their farming system. Calves from dairy cattle that had some Jersey genetics were seen as a finishing risk and were less attractive to finishing operations. There appeared to be a disconnect between the preferences of dairy and beef finishing operations, with sire selection having opposite selection criteria. The results of this survey indicate that work needs to be taken to align the goals of both beef finishers and dairy farmers.
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    The genetic parameters of racing success and longevity in the New Zealand Thoroughbred racing industry
    (Taylor and Francis Group on behalf of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, New Zealand, 2025-04-23) Chin YY; Sneddon NW; Gibson MJ; Legg KA; Gee EK; Rogers CW; Handcock R
    Within the Thoroughbred industry, individual success can be measured with races and prize money won. At an industry level, there is a requirement for horses to be able to race from a young age and have a sustained injury-free career. Therefore, the variance components of such traits were investigated within ASReml for 26,920 New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorses. Age at first competitive high-speed event (trial or race start) had high heritability (h2= 0.52 ± 0.02), and an inverse genetic correlation with career earnings (−0.40 ± 0.05) and number of wins (−0.35 ± 0.06). Career earnings (h2 = 0.24 ± 0.02) had positive genetic and phenotypic correlations (0.59 ± 0.004) with career length, implying that racing success could be a useful selection proxy for career length. Horses that started earlier had longer career length (−0.21 ± 0.07,–0.18 ± 0.01). The low heritability of career length (0.11 ± 0.01) reflects considerable environmental influence on this trait, reinforcing the importance of early training and exercise in increasing career length. Therefore, the optimal strategy is a selection programme focusing on racing success, which improves commercial appeal and is genetically correlated with longevity. A training and racing programme that encourage an early competitive high-speed event would optimise the phenotypic development of the musculoskeletal system and reduce injury risk.