Breeding, Genetics & Performance
Breeding & Genetics: For Farmers
What Breeding & Genetics changes for the person actually doing the work.
For the person running the business, the test of any farm software is whether it removes work or adds it. Genetic improvement is the only permanent, cumulative gain available in livestock production, and it is routinely decided on appearance. This module records pedigree and performance, applies Estimated Breeding Values and genomic data to selection, plans matings against the breeding objective, and measures whether the herd or flock is actually improving.
In their words
What the job actually looks like
These are not marketing personas. Each one is a distinct job with a distinct constraint, and the module is designed so that solving one does not create work for the others.
Suckler breeder
Home-bred replacements
Needs to rank heifers on index rather than on appearance.
- Define the breeding objective
- Record pedigree and performance
- Obtain EBVs and genomic results
- Build the selection index
Pedigree breeder
Selling breeding stock
Needs full performance and genomic evidence with every animal sold.
- Record pedigree and performance
- Obtain EBVs and genomic results
- Build the selection index
- Plan matings and check inbreeding
AI technician
Service rounds
Needs mating plans and straw allocation on a mobile device.
- Obtain EBVs and genomic results
- Build the selection index
- Plan matings and check inbreeding
- Serve and record
End to end
How Breeding & Genetics runs, start to finish
The module is modelled as a state machine, so at any point the business knows exactly which stage every record is at and what has to happen next.
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1
Define the breeding objective
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Record pedigree and performance
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Obtain EBVs and genomic results
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Build the selection index
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Plan matings and check inbreeding
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Serve and record
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Measure progeny performance
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
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8
Review genetic trend and adjust the objective
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
Capabilities
What Breeding & Genetics does
Every capability below is built on the same underlying record, so entering something once is enough for it to appear wherever it is needed.
Record and plan
- Pedigree recording with sire, dam and full ancestry
- Estimated Breeding Value capture and across-breed comparison
- Genomic test result recording and interpretation
Operate and monitor
- Breeding objective definition weighted to the production system
- Mating plan generation with inbreeding coefficient checking
- Artificial insemination, embryo transfer and natural service records
Comply and evidence
- Semen and embryo inventory with straw-level tracking
- Performance recording — growth, maternal, carcase and health traits
- Genetic trend analysis showing whether the herd is improving
Analyse and improve
- Replacement selection ranking on index rather than appearance
- Bull and ram fertility testing records
- Conditionality evidence for genetics-linked scheme payments
Traceability
The chain behind one batch
Livestock traceability is statutory, the reporting window is short, and it runs through a different national system in each nation. The record is assembled as the animal moves rather than reconstructed at audit.
BATCH-84923B
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Born on holding
- Who
- Holding of birth
- Evidence
- Ear tag applied and registered
- Held in
- British Cattle Movement Service
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Health intervention
- Who
- Veterinary practice
- Evidence
- Medicine record with withdrawal period
- Held in
- Medicine book
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Moved
- Who
- Haulier
- Evidence
- Statutory movement report within the reporting window
- Held in
- British Cattle Movement Service
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Received
- Who
- Destination holding
- Evidence
- Arrival recorded, standstill applied
- Held in
- Holding register
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Slaughtered
- Who
- Approved abattoir
- Evidence
- Kill sheet, classification and food chain information
- Held in
- FSA
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Sold
- Who
- Buyer
- Evidence
- Batch linked to the carcase and the holding of origin
- Held in
- Platform record
Take the record with you
Worked example
How a business like yours would use Breeding & Genetics
The problem: Needs to rank heifers on index rather than on appearance.
What they do
- Define the breeding objective
- Record pedigree and performance
- Obtain EBVs and genomic results
- Build the selection index
What changes
- Genetic trend per year
- Percentage of herd with EBVs
- Inbreeding coefficient
This is an illustrative worked example built from the module design, not a customer reference. Named case studies are published only with the business's written consent.
What we are hearing
The problems people describe to us
These are composite statements drawn from user research conversations, not attributed customer quotes. We publish named references only with written consent.
I am not short of software. I am short of one place where the same field means the same thing in all of it.
The scheme closed on a Tuesday evening. I had the application half built. Nobody told me the budget was nearly gone.
We farm on both sides of the border. Everything takes twice as long and I still cannot see the whole position on one screen.
Audit week costs me three days. Every single record they ask for is already written down somewhere on this farm.
Measurement
How you will know it is working
The module reports against these measures from the day it is switched on, so the value is demonstrable rather than assumed.
- 01Genetic trend per year
- 02Percentage of herd with EBVs
- 03Inbreeding coefficient
- 04Replacement index versus herd average
- 05Conception rate to planned matings
Free tool
Run the numbers for your own holding
Enter your figures and get an answer you can act on, with the method shown so you can check it. Save the result to your account or take it away as a PDF.