11/2/22, 7:52 AM Cross breeding systems for beef cattle

Crossbreeding systems for beef cattle

Page published: September 14, 2011 | Page reviewed: February 22, 2022

Crossbreeding is the mating of two or more breeds to produce crossbred progeny. Crossbreeding is undertaken to:

Utilise the desired attributes of two or more breeds

Produce progeny better suited to target markets while maintaining environmental adaption
Improve productivity quicker in traits which are slow to change within a breed i.e. environmental adaption, fertility
and carcase traits
Take advantage of the production improvements which arise from heterosis (hybrid vigour) when breeds are
crossed.

Combining the attributes of two or more breeds

The first step is to clearly define the production levels in your current herd for all the economically important traits in
your herd.

The next step is to determine what production levels are needed for each of those economically important traits, to
meet the requirements of the market you are aiming for.

By looking at where you are and where you need to be, you can determine the appropriate breeding objectives for
your herd. Identifying breeding objectives is fundamental to planned cattle breeding. Generally, these objectives can
be met either by selecting within the current herd or by introducing new breeds into the herd. The introduction of
new breeds merely provides a ‘quantum leap’ in changing the genetics of the herd (see Breed selection). However an
ongoing selection program is still required to continue to make genetic improvements.

Taking advantage of heterosis

Heterosis is the production advantage that can be obtained from crossing breeds, or strains, which are genetically
diverse. The new combinations of genetic material can lead to production advantages over and above the average of
the two parent breeds or strains. To be of economic advantage, the new production levels need to be above those of
either parent strain or breed – otherwise you are better off sticking with the superior parent line.

Heterosis tends to be greater for traits – such as fitness or fertility traits – which are less likely to respond to
conventional selection. For example, the level of heterosis achievable for fertility traits is likely to be double that
which might be obtained for growth or carcase traits.

Steps in establishing a crossbreeding program

Steps that need to be followed in setting up a cross breeding program.

Define your current situation in relation to markets, breeds, nutrition, environment and management.
Define the management and nutrition levels it is possible to achieve in your environment.
Define what market, or markets, you are aiming for and determine breeding objectives.
Decide which breed types will perform best in relation to your desired production traits.
Set out a long-term breeding program – the final crossbreeding system may take up to ten years or more to
achieve.
Stick to your plan once it has been established.

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Crossbreeding systems
There are five basic crossbreeding systems available to the commercial beef producer.

Two breed cross

The two breed cross system produces first cross, or F1, progeny. In this system, the progeny resulting from the cross
of two breeds are usually all sold for slaughter or to another commercial breeder. This system is frequently used in
northern New South Wales where there are specific F1 sales.

The system is most useful for situations in which females of a specific breed are well adapted to a given environment.
An example is Bos indicus bred females in north, central and coastal Queensland. These adapted females can be
mated to a sire of another breed, resulting in heterosis for traits such as growth, improved carcase, feed conversion
efficiency and vigour.

Figure 1. Two breed cross occurs where breed A and breed B are two purebreds and the F1 progeny (AB)
contains equal parts of the two breeds.

Backcross
In a backcross system, all male calves produced from the first cross are sold for slaughter. Female F1 crossbred
progeny are mated to males of one of the parental breeds and all progeny are sold for slaughter. This breeding
system takes full advantage of heterosis for maternal traits such as fertility of the cow, and milking/mothering ability
(as the mother expresses 100% of possible heterosis) and half of the possible heterosis for growth.

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Figure 2. The backcross is obtained where all the females from a two breed cross are mated to a purebred bull
of either of the original breeds. All the backcross progeny are marketed.

This approach is most useful where adaptation to a specific environment is required from a particular maternal breed
but where characteristics from the other parental breed are desired for carcase or growth traits. The crossbred F1
female would also have satisfactory environmental adaptation.

Continual backcrossing is the system used by producers to upgrade or change from one breed to another without
having to buy purebred cows, such as in development of Brahman herds in Queensland.

Three breed cross

Three breed cross requires the input of three separate breeds. Along similar principles as with backcross, all first
cross male progeny are sold. First cross females are joined with bulls of a third unrelated breed, instead of with one
of the parent breeds as in the backcross. All progeny of F1 dams are sold for slaughter.

This system takes advantage of both maternal and individual heterosis, and of the complementarity of three breeds.
An example would be the a case where the first two breeds are chosen to achieve maternal heterosis and adaptation
to an environment, while the third breed (terminal sire breed) produces the most acceptable turnoff animals. This use
of the F1 female is generally considered to produce the greatest lift in productivity, but it is influenced by the quality
of the purebreds maintained to breed the F1 females.

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Figure 3. The three breed cross is obtained when all the females from a two breed cross are mated to a bull of
a third, unrelated breed. All the three breed cross progeny are marketed.

Rotational cross
Rotational crossbreeding, sometimes referred to as sequence breeding, is when males of two or more breeds are
mated to crossbred females. Over a number of years, each breed will have contributed its strengths and weaknesses
equally.

Variation seen in the progeny in early years of a rotational crossbreeding program may make it more difficult to
consistently meet a specific market requirement in this production system. When the breeds used are similar,
consistency of performance is less likely to be a problem, although levels of heterosis will also be lower if breeds or
breed groupings are relatively closely related.

Levels of heterosis achieved in rotational crossbreeding depend on the number of breeds involved. Once stabilised
after many crosses, with a number of breeds (n) contributing equally, the level of retained heterosis may be expressed
as:

(2n–2) / (2n–1)

Rotational crosses express more heterosis than composites which use the same number of breeds. This increased
heterosis in rotational systems is a result of close to maximum heterosis being achieved in each cross with the
purebreed.

All animals in the herd benefit from heterosis for both growth and maternal traits in rotational crossbreeding. When
three or more breeds are used, heterosis levels of 86% or greater may be achieved. These compare very favourably
with self-replacing terminal cross systems in which only about half the progeny show heterosis for growth and only a
third of progeny benefit from heterosis in their dam.

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In rotational crossbreeding, replacement females are generated for the enterprise from the mating program. All
females are potentially available for selection as replacements, whereas in self replacing terminal cross systems,
about a third of the heifers are not available for selection. This means a reduced possibility for genetic improvement
through heifer selection, placing that pressure on bull selection.

Figure 4. Starting at 50 50, the rotation stabilises at 65 35 or 35 65, giving 65 from the last sire line used.

Because in rotational crossbreeding the mating involves several groups of females of different breed combinations
with bulls of different breeds, this system has specific management requirements.

Composite breed
Development of a composite or synthetic breed results from the crossing of two or more existing breeds. There are
many examples of this in Queensland: Santa Gertrudis, Droughtmaster, Braford, Charbray, Brangus and Belmont Red.

The primary advantage of forming composite breeds is that after the initial crosses are made, management
requirements are the same as for straight breeding. Should a market signal indicate a change to the characteristics of
the composite, there is opportunity to change direction by incorporating another breed or crossbreed.

The initial choice of breeds must be based on those which have desirable traits for a particular environment and for
the target market.

The percentage of heterosis increases as more breeds contribute in the initial mating program. While the heterosis
will not be as high as that achieved with a rotational crossbreeding program with the same number of breeds, the
management requirements will be reduced.

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Figure 5. One simple approach to a composite breed

For instance, if there are three breeds in a given composite, the amount of retained heterosis would be expected to
be (3-1) ÷ 3 or two-thirds or 67%.

Inbreeding is not usually significant when numbers are greater than 200 or 300 breeders. However, in smaller herds
inbreeding can be a problem. In the extreme case where a herd uses only one bull all heterosis is lost after
approximately eight generations or 40 years.

Comparing crossbreeding systems

The relationship between the various mating systems, per cent of maximum heterosis retained and percentage
increase in weight of calf weaned per cow exposed is shown in the table below.

Table 1. Percentage of maximum heterosis expected in progeny

Mating system Maximum heterosis retained Superiority over parent breeds

Individual (%) Maternal (%) Increased weight of Increased value of calf

calf weight weaned / weight weaned / cow
cow
exposed at $1.30/kg

exposed (%) liveweight gain (%)

2 breed cross

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Mating system Maximum heterosis retained Superiority over parent breeds

 A x B 100 0 8.5  16.50

 3 breed cross

 (A x B) x C 100 100 23.3 45

Rotational
crosses*

 2 breed 33 67 12.7 25

 3 breed 86 86 20 40

 4 breed 93 93 21.7 42

Composite 
crossbreed

 2 breed 50 50 11.6 22.5

 3 breed 67 67 15.6 30.5

 4 breed 75 75 17.5 34

 5 breed 80 80 18.6 36

 6 breed 83 83 19.3 37.5

*This breeding system refers to Bos taurus x Bos taurus or Sanga x Bos taurus crosses after about seven different
matings.

Input of purebreeds 
All crossbreeding systems require the continuing input of purebred animals. The numbers of animals required to
achieve this should not be under-estimated.

Regular crossing provides stud breeders with a substantial incentive to maintain and improve their straightbred
populations, particularly in relation to objective performance criteria.

Further information
Breeding for profit (PDF, 1.37MB)

Source: adapted from ‘Breeding for profit’, compiled by John Bertram, et al. 2009.

Reviewed and updated by Mick Sullivan, February 2021.

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For more information about this topic or any others please email us at info@futurebeef.com.au

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11/2/22, 7:55 AM LINEBREEDING 101: Cattle Breed True, More Uniform

JUDD RANCH

LINEBREEDING 101: Cattle Breed True, Latest Newsletter

More Uniform
Monday, September 3, 2018 FALL 2022
NEWSLETTER

While inbreeding can reduce performance, linebreeding using carefully planned matings
has been shown to elevate the influence of a genetic line or individual. Some extension
beef specialists call line-breeding "the cornerstone of selective breeding."

Linebreeding is a ratchet mechanism for holding any gains already made by selection,
while attempting to make further gains. It is a plan that breeds one sire line and
preserves that exceptional ancestor's influence. 

Linebreeding of livestock traces to the 1930s when agriculture's success with hybrid corn
caught the interest of cattle breeders. In 1934, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service's
Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory in Miles City, Mont., undertook a
long-term study on genetic selection and linebreeding of cattle. Those studies today
involve a successful linebreeding program in which a high degree of relationship - 39
percent - to the founding sire has been maintained for 18 generations. Without
linebreeding, researchers note that the relationship to an ancestor 18 generations ago
would be less than .001 of a percent.

In linebreeding, the idea is to always keep the amount that any one animal contributes to
the DNA of any descendent at or below 50 percent.

Michael Gonda, PhD, South Dakota State University Department of Animal Science, says
there are two advantages to linebreeding for a seedstock producer. One advantage, he
says, is that a seedstock producer can identify sires that are carriers of genetic
abnormalities and quickly eliminate those carriers from the herd.

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"This will show up if you breed those sires back to their daughters. We can identify
JUDD
abnormalities that we don't yet have DNA tests for and don't know muchRANCH
about," Gonda
explains.

The other advantage to linebreeding, Gonda says, is that seedstock producers can
increase the relationship of their animals to a genetically valuable ancestor. Stacking the
genes enables the linebred individual to transmit more characteristics than the other
parent.

"We call this prepotency," he explains. "This can be valuable to seedstock producers who
want to spread the genetics of a valuable, outstanding animal."

 Jim Lents echoes this in his book The Basis of Linebreeding: "Linebreeding fixes and
maintains certain traits within a population of cattle that then have the prepotency to
pass on consistently to future generations those characteristics that have been fixed."

Animal Geneticist Dr. Sally Northcutt,

Method Genetics, says that linebred cattle
have fewer genetic defects and breed truer.
She says the "why" behind cattle being truer
is because they possess more homozygous
or identical gene pairs.

"While we linebreed for a variety of reasons,

one of the strongest reasons is that linebred
cattle are more uniform and breed true,"
explains Dave Judd, Judd Ranch.

Stringent Approach Required

 Implementing and maintaining a linebreeding program isn't easy. A seedstock producer

must start with genetically sound individuals, and the person in charge of the program
must know what they are doing and stay dedicated to the project.

Roger Gatz, Judd Ranch consultant, points out that Dave's solid understanding of the
principles of genetics and how to apply the technology and strategies needed to have a
successful linebreeding program have been critical components to Judd Ranch's
successful linebreeding program.

 Judd Ranch's linebreeding program started many years ago. Roger adds that seeds for a
linebreeding program at Judd Ranch took root back in the days when a majority of
breeders were focused on breeding really big-framed females and bulls.

 Dave didn't agree with the "bigger is better" route. He wanted more moderate-framed,
highly fertile cattle that had capacity and were excellent grass converters. He wanted a
linebreeding program that concentrated on specific traits such as reproductive efficiency,
calving ease and growth.

 "We did a lot of research before embarking

on a linebreeding program," Dave explains.
"While we were aware of the work it would
take to develop a successful program, we
knew this was the direction we wanted to
take since it would increase the uniformity
and prepotency of our cattle - providing we
started with the right sire."

 So when other breeders were heading the

"bigger is better" route, the Judd Ranch program opted for a different path.

 Judd Ranch's linebreeding program began with a moderate-framed, thickly made bull
named Rolls Roych. He combined outstanding performance with structural soundness
and a huge scrotal circumference and was what many a cattleman would call a
beefpacked machine.

 "We deliberately began mating related animals," Dave explains.

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 Using Rolls Roych as its foundation, Judd Ranch's linebreeding program advanced with a
JUDD
Rolls Roych son named Partner, followed by Rolls Roych grandson RANCH
named Grand Prix and
then Freedom, who has Rolls Roych in his pedigree. The Judd linebreeding program also
includes Free Agent, a Freedom son; and Top Secret, a Free Agent son.

 "One of our goals from the start has been to

increase uniformity and consistency, and
linebreeding has helped us achieve that
goal," Dave adds. "Linebreeding has also
helped us eliminate genetic defects and
attain genetic purity.

 "Linebreeding benefits us, and our

customers benefit from it as well. It's a win-
win all around." 

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