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Jay Nordhauseni
Jay Nordhausen

Association Perspective

Take advantage of genetic potential.

It’s been a year now since I started my new beginnings with the American Angus Association, and what a year it has been! It has truly been an honor to meet and build a relationship with all of the members, not only within my territory, but throughout the nation as well. Another privilege has been meeting all the commercial cattlemen who are the heartbeat and pulse of the business, and who solidify the foundation of the seedstock world. In all my travels during the last several months, I’ve had cattlemen ask about the GeneMax® (GMX) Advantage™ genomic test, and I thought this would be a great time to visit about the test more.


Let’s start with the basics, the GeneMax Advantage genomic test is designed for heavily influenced commercial-Angus replacement heifers (75% or greater). It serves as one more tool for cattlemen to be better informed on their replacement females’ true genetic potential. The most important goal of the test is to serve as a valuable selection piece, adding more confidence to your mating or marketing decisions.


When the GeneMax Advantage test was developed, Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI), Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) and Zoetis thought it was important for cattlemen to have three easy-to-understand economic index scores. The three components of the economic index scores are Cow Advantage, Feeder Advantage and Total Advantage:


Cow Advantage — Predicts differences in profitability starting at heifer development, pregnancy and calving to the sale of weaned progeny.


Feeder Advantage — Predicts differences in net return of feeder-calf progeny due to growth, feed efficiency and Certified Angus Beef® (CAB®) brand carcass merit.


Total Advantage — Predicts differences of profitability with established genetic merit across all economically relevant traits captured in the Cow and Feeder Advantage index scores.


The test results will also show outliers based on the varying percentages of the population of females tested. The outliers shown on the results are cow cost from size and milk, docility, marbling and tenderness. The test allows cattlemen to identify the potential sire of each tested female. This is done with the power of SireMatch using Zoetis’ HD50K technology.


If you have any more questions regarding the GeneMax Advantage genomic test, feel free to call AGI at 816-383-5100 or your local regional manager.

 

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Editor’s Note: Regional Manager Jay Nordhausen covers the states of Nebraska and Colorado. Click here to find the regional manager for your state.





















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