Genetic Parameters for Growth, Ultrasound and Carcass Traits in New Zealand Beef Cattle and Their Correlations with Maternal Performance

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Profitability of the beef industry depends on the performance of both finishing cattle and the breeding herd. Breeding programs need to be designed in a way that balances requirements for both systems, requiring knowledge of relationships between trait groups. This study examined the inheritance of growth, ultrasound and carcass traits and their relationships with maternal performance in New Zealand beef herds. Results have shown that genetic variation exists for traits measured in finishing animals such that direct selection for enhanced growth, ultrasound and carcass traits is feasible. Genetic correlations indicate that decreasing fat content in live animals at ultrasound scanning or at slaughter can lead to detrimental changes in the genetic merit of maternal performance. Thus, a reduction in reproductive performance in 2-year-old cows may occur while mature size genotypes are likely to increase, and this can impact on cow maintenance requirements. However, only low genetic correlations exist with body condition score in mature cows such that there is room to alter the fat distribution in finishing animals without impacting on body energy reserves in mature cows. Results indicate that identifying animals with favourable genotypes for both maternal and finishing performance is feasible when measuring animals for both trait groups. ABSTRACT: Research has shown that enhancing finishing performance in beef cows is feasible; however, any adverse impact of selection strategies for finishing performance on the performance of the maternal herd should be taken into account. The aim of this research was to examine the inheritance of growth, ultrasound and carcass traits in finishing beef cattle and to evaluate their correlations with maternal performance traits. Data were collected from a nationwide progeny test on commercial New Zealand hill country farms comprising a total of 4473 beef cows and their progeny. Most finishing traits were moderately to highly heritable (0.28–0.58) with the exception of meat or fat colour and ossification (0.00–0.12). Ultrasound scan traits had high genetic correlations with corresponding traits measured at slaughter (r(g) = 0.53–0.95) and may be used as a selection tool for improved genetic merit of the beef carcass. Fat content determined via ultrasound scanning in the live animal or at slaughter in finishing cattle is positively genetically correlated with rebreeding performance (r(g) = 0.22–0.39) in female herd replacements and negatively correlated with mature cow live weight (r(g) = −0.40 to −0.19). Low-magnitude associations were observed between the genetic merit for carcass fat traits with body condition in mature cows.