Livestock News & Views

Modern cattle are descended from a small herd domesticated in the Middle East about 10,500 years ago, according to recent genetics research.

Researchers extracted DNA from domestic cattle bones found at archeological sites. By examining the DNA of ancient and modern cattle, they traced taurine cattle to about 80 female aurochs. Taurine cattle include beef breeds like Herefords and Angus, and dairy breeds like Holsteins.

DNA technology promises to make food traceability more precise and reliable and boost consumer confidence, according an industry executive.

IdentiGEN’s DNA TraceBack allows the food industry to trace whole muscle cuts from the grocery store shelf to the individual animal. Genetic technology can help processors issue more targeted food safety recalls. Sturgeon Valley Pork, an Alberta processor, uses the technology to assure customers that their products are premium Alberta pork. DNA traceability can also be used for ground meat as long as reference samples from individual carcasses can be collected. But implementing DNA traceability for ground meat produced in large processing plants is more complex.

Groundbreaking Canadian research into improving food safety recalls has implications for both the agriculture industry and the research community.

Researchers wanted to improve food safety recalls, but first they needed a statistical method for estimating the number of cattle that make up one ground beef batch. Basic ecology methods involve capturing wild animals, marking and releasing them, and recapturing them later. By comparing the numbers of new and recaptured individuals, scientists could then estimate population numbers. Using this method, previous research put the number of individuals making up one ground beef batch at 300 to 500.

A sire evaluation project is yielding promising results for beef producers who want to improve their herds.

Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development has partnered with IdentiGen Canada Ltd. to study which bulls produce the best calves. In 2010, they began collecting DNA from bulls and calves on two Alberta ranches. The project expanded to include a third ranch in 2011. The DNA linked calves to the bulls, and the early results immediately caught participating ranchers’ interests.

“What we did see right away, and we were told that we would, is bulls that did not sire any calves,” says Jim Hansen, livestock business development specialist with Alberta Agriculture. “They would have passed the semen test, everything would have been good, but they sired no calves.”

Canadian Angus cattle carry a tenderness gene more often than international Angus populations, according to a genetics study.

The research came about because of the World Angus Forum, which was held in Calgary in 2009. As part of the forum, registered Angus embryos were brought from Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark and Uruguay, and implanted in Albertan cows. Chelsey Carruthers worked with Dr. Sheila Schmutz to compare the genes of the international Angus to the Canadian population.