DNA SERVICES

Shorthorn Beef offers a wide selection of DNA services, designed to assist members to make the most informed breeding and management decisions possible. Whether you are a seedstock or commercial cattle breeder, there is a testing level that works for you.

Shorthorn breeders have embraced DNA technology and given the high rate of uptake within the breed and the need for breeders to access decision making tools quickly, it is no longer necessary, or preferred, for DNA samples to be sent to the Shorthorn Beef office.

This should significantly decrease the turnaround time for members receiving results.

PROTOCOLS FOR DNA SUBMISSION

SHORTHORN DNA APPLICATION FORM 2020

DNA Samples include Tissue Sampling Units (TSU’s), which is the preferred method. TSU kits and applicators can be ordered through Shorthorn Beef or directly from Allflex or Neogen.

Hair samples are the other common samples tested for DNA. Hair sample kits can also be ordered through Shorthorn Beef or from Neogen Australasia. Breeders need to be aware that Neogen have a $3 per sample surcharge for tail hair samples.

Semen straws and blood cards can also be processed, however please ensure that the semen straw is both full and unused. There is also a surcharge for these sampling methods.

Once breeders have taken samples for DNA testing, they must complete the Neogen Cattle Genotyping Application Form, available here.

Breeders need to add the animals Visual Tag (registration number), ICAR/Registration number & select the type of testing from the drop-down list that they require.

If an animal requires more than one test, breeders will need to fill in a separate line for each test.

When parent verification testing is required, breeders can either add the sire and/or dam to be tested against on the Application Form tab. If there are more than one sire and/or dam to be tested against, breeders can add multiple sires and/or dams in the Optional – List of Sires and/or Optional – List of Dams tabs.

Importantly, animals to be tested MUST be at least recorded prior to testing. Unrecorded or Unregistered animals WILL NOT be DNA tested through Shorthorn Beef. Animals may be recorded without a pedigree if it is unknown.

Once completed, a copy of the form must be sent to Shorthorn Beef directly. This must be received by Shorthorn Beef, prior to the samples arriving at Neogen.

Samples can be posted with a printed copy of the Application Form directly to;

Neogen Australasia

PO Box 1388

UQ _ Gatton Campus

Gatton

QLD 4343

Phone: 07 3736 2134

It is recommended to use registered or express post that allows samples to be tracked should any issues occur in the post.

Once DNA testing is completed, results will be loaded to the Shorthorn Beef website for you. DNA Certificates and any parentage results will be sent to you directly by Shorthorn Beef.

WHAT TO DO IF A PARENTAGE VERIFICATION FAILS

There are many reasons why parentage results may differ from the recorded pedigree for the tested animal. Importantly, the vast majority of parentage issues can be resolved.

If the nominated sire and/or dam listed do not qualify as the most likely parent/s for the nominated animal, Shorthorn Beef will contact you and assist you to resolve the issue. This usually involves nominating every possible sire and/or dam (provided they have a SNP profile on record at Shorthorn Beef) for the particular animal and running a new parentage test. New parentage tests usually takes approximately 3-5 working days however may be longer at peak times.

For those that are DNA testing sale animals, it is advised to complete all testing well prior to cataloguing to avoid any undue stress, should parentage issues arise.

MiP PARENTAGE TESTING SERVICES

Microsatellite (MiP) parentage testing is no longer available from 1^st January 2021.

Members are advised to check the Shorthorn Beef website to see if any of their sires and/or dams have the old MiP type profiles recorded. If that is the case, they will no longer be able to be used to resolve any parentage issues that may arise, which may affect the registration status of valuable progeny.

Members are strongly encouraged to consider having a SNP based panel (such as a Seeksire) recorded for the relevant sires and/or dams.