National Cattlemen April 2026 | Page 14

Breeding for Adaptability: What Traits Matter? When breeding programs look to add novel adaptability traits to their selection decisions, the traits must meet four criteria:

• They must be heritable,

• Easy to measure,

• Tied to environmental adaptability, and

• Not in opposition to economically important EPDs.

One promising example is early-season hair shedding, which indicates an animal’ s ability to tolerate heat stress. Other adaptive traits Rowan and his team are exploring include body temperature variance, grazing behavior patterns, and indicators of fescue tolerance. Traits like these could help producers identify genetics that will thrive in their unique environment.

“ There is no such thing as an average environment,” he emphasized, which makes the development of new EPDs challenging and understanding them critical. Precision genetic tools must account for these micro-environmental differences. A National Collaboration to Build Better Tools Rowan highlighted a multi-institution, cross-industry effort underway to explore genetic evaluation models that integrate environmental data directly. The aim of this collaboration between five land-grant universities and Angus Genetics Inc. is to support producer decisions, giving them more information that can be tailored to their operations. Ideally, producers could input details about forage, nutrition, reproductive management, climate and more to identify the sires and maternal lines most likely to succeed in their management and environmental context.

As part of that initiative, registered Angus breeders are being asked to participate in a comprehensive survey gathering information about herd health, grazing systems, reproductive strategies, business decisions, technology adoption, and genetic selection practices. These insights will help refine models and drive the development of future GxE-informed selection tools. The Future of Cattle Selection Ultimately, Rowan’ s message was clear: the future of genetic selection requires a deeper understanding of how animals interact with their environment. Adaptation is the next step in genetics for performance, profitability and longterm herd resilience.

By embracing new tools and narrowing in on producerspecific environments, cattle producers can breed females that aren’ t just good on paper— they’ re the right fit for the ranch they call home.

14 APRIL 2026 www. NCBA. org