BREEDPLAN and Murray Grey Cattle Australia

Genetic evaluation for beef cattle Australia and Worldwide

Murray Grey BREEDPLAN is the genetic evaluation system used by the Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society.

BREEDPLAN is the world’s most widely used genetic evaluation system for beef cattle. BREEDPLAN EBVs take the guesswork out of selection decisions by providing beef producers with an objective assessment of an animal’s genetic potential. It offers the potential to accelerate genetic progress, tighten up breeding operations, improve productivity and increase prices for cattle sold for breeding and slaughter.

BREEDPLAN has been available since 1984 and over 60 separate BREEDPLAN evaluations have been developed, representing over 14 million animals, almost 40 beef cattle breeds and at least 100 breed associations distributed across 14 countries. A BREEDPLAN genetic evaluation is currently performed for the Murray Grey breed and includes animals from Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Within the Murray Grey evaluation, EBVs are published on individual Murray Grey animals for 17 different traits. These traits include:

• Calving Ease Direct (%)
• Calving Ease Daughters (%)
• Gestation Length (days)
• Birth Weight (kg)
• 200 Day Weight (kg)
• 400 Day Weight (kg)
• 600 Day Weight (kg)
• Mature Cow Weight (kg)
• Milk (kg)
• Scrotal Size (cm)
• Days to Calving (days)
• Carcase Weight (kg)
• Eye Muscle Area (sq cm)
• Rib Fat (mm)
• Rump Fat (mm)
• Retail Beef Yield (%)
• Intra Muscular Fat (%)

More information about BREEDPLAN

Selection Indices

Murray Grey selection indices are calculated for five production systems and markets, namely, Supermarket, Heavy Grass Fed, Breeder Replacement, Vealer Terminal and Northern Terminal.  These indices relate to typical commercial herds that utilise Murray Grey genetics in Australia and reflect the genetic differences between animals in net profitability per cow joined for a typical commercial herd using Murray Grey bulls. Murray Grey breeders should use the selection index that best matches their, or their bull buying clients, production systems. Custom selection indexes for individual herds are also able to be created via https://breedobject.com/

More information on the use and development of the Australian Murray Grey Selection Indexes

At The Murray Grey Society we also promote crossbreeding and the benefits of the Greyman bulls Australia.

Technical Information

The Help Centre on the BREEDPLAN website (https://breedplan.une.edu.au/help-centre/) contains many helpful documents and videos to assist with the use of the BREEDPLAN genetic evaluation. For further information on BREEDPLAN, contact the team via the BREEDPLAN contacts listed below. Additional technical notes on wider animal breeding topics can also be found under the Extension Services heading on the BREEDPLAN website. A selection of the available information is listed on the Murray Grey website at the following link – Read more

ABRI Extension Services

ABRI Extension Services provides technical support and extension initiatives supporting the use and understanding of BREEDPLAN, a modern genetic evaluation system for beef cattle breeders, and related genetic technologies, including BreedObject, MateSel and Completeness of Performance. The ABRI Extension Services team provides technical support and offers a range of extension initiatives, including BREEDPLAN workshops and herd consultations. The team are… Read more

BREEDPLAN Enrolment

To enrol in Murray Grey BREEDPLAN, members are required to complete the following form and return it to Murray Grey BREEDPLAN. It is recommended that members interested in participating in Murray Grey BREEDPLAN contact us prior to enrolling, to discuss the application of BREEDPLAN in… Read more

BREEDPLAN Contacts

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