Cost-benefit of a genomic reference population for goats in Australia

There is currently no genomic-based information available to Australian goat meat breeders to make selection decisions. This is due to a lack of performance-recorded goats with genomic information and a lack of genetic evaluation infrastructure. The Measured Goats project is the beginning of a genomic reference population that will help provide the data infrastructure to rectify both challenges. This study reports a cost-benefit analysis of investment of genomic reference populations for goat meat where commercial breeders breeding their own bucks could genomic test their “clean-skin” male selection candidates. The study demonstrates that the Measured Goats project is an excellent start to building a genomic reference population to underpin commercial genomic selection. All testing scenarios return a profit on investment to the industry in years 11-13. The genomic prediction accuracy and hence the response to selection is dependent on effective population size and the number of tested animals in the genomic reference population.