Cost-Effectiveness and Population Structure in Cattle Breeding Programmes

Abstract

SUMMARYCost-effectiveness requires that a breeding programme be both genetically and economically well-planned. Planning consists of deciding between alternative courses of action. These decisions arise at both the strategic and tactical level. The point is made that the tactical choices have been well served by science, but that the more important strategic ones have not been. A formal framework is described in which the sequence of decision-making required for an animal breeding programme is treated systematically. Current work in the genetic/economic planning of cattle breeding schemes is reviewed. The interaction of breeding programmes and population structure is dealt with in some detail.

The economic optimization of breeding programs in aquaculture

“…This result is consistent with the few other studies that focused on the economic optimization of test group sizes. Some of the older studies dealing with the optimization of cattle and pig breeding programs have been reviewed by Cunningham (1973) and Lindhé and Holmquist-Arbrandt (1977), respectively.…”