IGENITY^® for beef

IGENITY^® — Horned/Polled Analysis

The presence of horns in commercial cattle is known to cause performance losses and damage to carcasses. This analysis is currently available from IGENITY for the Charolais, Gelbvieh, Hereford, Limousin, Simmental and Shorthorn breeds.

This technology was developed in partnership with the Texas Agriculture Experiment Association and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, supported in part with funding from America's Beef Producers. Development of this analysis involved up to 200 bulls per breed, which allowed evaluation of records on more than 50,000 progeny.

Dr. Clare Gill, assistant professor, Texas A&M University, collected extensive data on cattle from each breed to ensure the markers identified are responsible for the presence or absence of horns. Markers for additional breeds are being validated and will be available soon.

Result of Horned/Polled Analysis from IGENITY
The IGENITY horned/polled analysis from IGENITY uses multiple markers to identify horned and polled animals. The polled allele is dominate over the horned allele, so animals can appear polled despite carrying a horned gene. This analysis is breed-specific for purebred animals and each breed has a different set of markers involved. The results do not reveal the presence or absence of scurs.

The results of the analysis from IGENITY are reported in one of the four ways listed below.