Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

NCERA-199 Implementation and Strategies for National Beef Cattle Genetic Evaluation 2011 Meeting Minutes October 20-21, 2011 Kansas City, MO Chair: Dr. Robert Williams Secretary: Dr. Larry Kuehn Report Information: Annual Meeting Dates: 10/20/11 to 10/21/11 Period this Report Covers: 10/2011 to 9/2012 Participants: Kerri Bates (guest), Dr. Jennifer Bormann, Heather Bradford (guest), Dr. Darrh Bullock, Dr. Michael Davis, Dr. Mauricio Elzo, Dr. Rohan Fernando, Dr. Dorian Garrick, Dr. Kathy Hanford, Dr. Maynard Hogberg, Dr. Lauren Hyde, Dr. Steve Kachman, Dr. Larry Kuehn, Dr. Ron Lewis (by phone), Dr. Marek Lukaszewicz (guest), Dr. Christian Maltecca (guest), Kari OHeman (guest), Dr. Mahdi Saatchi (guest), Dr. Warren Snelling (guest), Dr. Matt Spangler, Dr. Mark Thallman, Dr. Shogo Tsuruta (guest), Randall Von Krosik (guest), Jack Ward (guest), Dr. Robert Williams, Dr. Brent Woodward, Dr. Xiao-Lin Nick Wu (guest) Brief summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting: The 2011 NCERA-199 Implementation and Strategies for National Beef Cattle Genetic Evaluation was held in Kansas City, MO on October 20-21, 2011. Dr. Robert Williams served as chair and Dr. Larry Kuehn served as secretary. Dr. Williams called the business meeting to order at approximately 1:00 p.m. A majority of the committee was in attendance meeting the quorum requirement. Old Business: The NCERA-199 renewal document was distributed for all members to see. The document was prepared by committee members Dr. Bormann and Dr. Spangler. Members were reminded to renew as members (fill out Appendix E) for the new project by mid-November (2011) to participate. Although industry representative members of the committee do not require University approval, their renewal as members was requested as well as their participation demonstrates the impact of the committee. New Business: For the second year in a row no NIFA National Program Leader was assigned to the committee. An update on the NIFA budget, the AFRI grant program, and changes to NIFA personnel was given in the form of a handout. NIFA was contacted in regard to the lack of a program leader assigned to the committee; this oversight should be corrected by the next annual meeting. Dr. Williams opened nominations from the floor for the chair position. Dr. Dorian Garrick volunteered to serve as chair and host for the 2012 annual meeting. A motion was made, seconded, and approved by acclamation in support of Dr. Garrick. The next meeting was tentatively set for October 18-19, 2012 in Des Moines with Iowa State University as the host. Dr. Rohan Fernando volunteered to serve as secretary of the committee. The secretary position was approved by a motion, second, and acclamation vote. The committee discussed the need for another Genetic Prediction Workshop over the next few years. Dr. Thallman stated that this issue had also been raised at the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) board meeting. The committee suggested establishing a dialogue with BIF in support of a Genetic Prediction Workshop in the fall of 2013. The committee expressed thanks to Dr. Robert Williams for hosting the 2012 meeting in Kansas City. The committee expressed thanks to Dr. Bormann and Dr. Spangler for preparing the NCERA-199 renewal document. Dr. Spangler motioned to adjourn Dr. Kachman second The motion to adjourn was approved by voice vote at approximately 1:30 p.m.

The NCERA-199 annual meeting was held in Kansas City, MO October 20-21, 2011. The session focused primarily on improvement of the accuracy of genomic predictions and associations and their use in national cattle evaluations. Speakers included Dr. Steve Kachman, Dr. Matt Spangler, Dr. Rohan Fernando, Dr. Warren Snelling, Dr. Shogo Tsuruta, Dr. Christian Maltecca, Dr. Xiao-Lin Wu, Jack Ward, and Dr. Dorian Garrick. Dr. Ron Lewis also presented (via teleconference) the current status of the online animal breeding and genetics education curriculum funded by the Higher Education Challenge Grant Program in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service. The National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium NBCEC, consisting of several members of this committee, continued to support educational and research projects related to beef cattle genetic evaluation programs. The Brown Bagger series continued in 2011 with 4 educational sessions. The NBCEC sponsored symposia in March to identify genetic strategies to improve healthfulness of beef and in November to increase the use of genomic prediction in national cattle evaluation. In addition, they sponsored an educational program on the current status of beef cattle genomic research in June at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center. Fact sheets from this program have been made available on www.nbcec.org. Also, a new edition of the Beef Sire Selection Manual (2nd) was produced with contributions from several members of this committee. This manual is also available on www.nbcec.org. Two large USDA grants were funded with leadership by members of the committee. These grants focused on improvement of feed efficiency and on increasing resistance to bovine respiratory disease complex. Each grant will be funded for a 5-yr term. These focus areas are of high-priority to commercial and seedstock cattle producers. The feed efficiency grant will utilize relationships established with central U.S. seedstock producers from the NBCEC Weight Traits Project. These seedstock producers will contribute semen from herd bulls to develop a population demonstrating the efficacy of prediction equations developed in the research portion of the grant.

Peer-reviewed journal articles Aguilar, I., I. Misztal , A. Legarra , S.Tsuruta. 2011. Efficient computation of genomic relationship matrix and other matrices used in single-step evaluation. J. Anim. Breed. Genet. 128(6):422-428. Aguilar, I., I. Misztal, S. Tsuruta, G. R. Wiggans and T. J. Lawlor. 2011. Multiple trait genomic evaluation of conception rate in Holsteins. J. Dairy Sci. 94:2621-2624. Bilgin, O. C., N. Esenbuga, and M. E. Davis. 2010. Comparison of models for describing the lactation curve of Awassi, Morkaraman, and Tushin Sheep. Archiv Tierzucht 53:447-456. Boonkum, W., I. Misztal, M. Duangjinda, V. Pattarajinda, S. Tumwasorn, and S. Buaban. 2011. Short communication: Genetic effects of heat stress on days open for Thai Holstein crossbreds. J. Dairy Sci. 94:1592-1596. Boonkum, W., I. Misztal, M. Duangjinda, V. Pattarajinda, S. Tumwasorn, and J. Sanpote. 2011. Genetic effects of heat stress on milk yield of Thai Holstein crossbreds. J. Dairy Sci. 94:487-492. Casas, E., R. M. Thallman, and L. V. Cundiff. 2011. Birth and weaning traits in crossbred cattle from Hereford, Angus, Brahman, Boran, Tuli, and Belgian Blue sires. J. Anim. Sci. 89:979-987. Chansomboon, C., M. A. Elzo, T. Suwanasopee, and S. Koonawootrittriron. 2009. Genotypic Polymorphisms for Adiponectin and Follicle Stimulating Hormone Receptor Genes Related to Weaning-to-First Service Interval and Litter Traits in a Commercial Landrace-Large White Swine Population in Northern Thailand. Thai J. Agric. Sci. 42:237-245. Chansomboon, C., M. A. Elzo, T. Suwanasopee, and S. Koonawootrittriron. 2010. Estimation of genetic parameters and trends for weaning-to-estrus interval and litter traits in a Landrace-Large White swine population in Northern Thailand. Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 23:543-555. Chen, C. Y., I. Misztal, I. Aguilar, A. Legarra, and B. Muir. 2011. Effect of different genomic relationship matrix on accuracy and scale. J. Anim. Sci. 89:2673-2679. Chen, C. Y., I. Misztal, I. Aguilar, S. Tsuruta, T. H. E. Meuwissen, S. E. Aggrey, T. Wing, and W. M. Muir. 2011. Genome-wide marker-assisted selection combining all pedigree phenotypic information with genotypic data in one step: an example using broiler chickens. J. Anim. Sci. 89:23-28. Chen,C. Y., I. Misztal,S. Tsuruta,B. Zumbach, W.O. Herring,T. Long, and M. Culbertson. 2011. Genetic analyses of stillbirth in relation to litter size using random regression models. J. Anim. Sci. 88: 3800-3808. Costa, R. B., I. Misztal, M. A. Elzo, J. K. Bertrand, L. O. C. Silva, and M. Lukaszewicz. 2011. Estimation of genetic parameters for mature weight in Angus cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 89:2680-2686. Davis, M. E., and R. C. M. Simmen. 2010. Estimates of inbreeding depression for serum insulin-like growth factor I concentrations, body weights, and body weight gains in Angus beef cattle divergently selected for serum insulin-like growth factor I concentration. J. Anim. Sci. 88:552-561. DeAtley, K. L., G. Rincon, C. R. Farber, J. F. Medrano, P. Luna-Nevarez, R. M. Enns, D. M. VanLeeuwen, G. A. Silver, and M. G. Thomas. 2011. Genetic analyses involving microsatellite ETH10 genotypes on bovine chromosome 5 and perfromance trait measures in Angus and Brahman-influenced cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 89:2031-2041. Fan, B., S.K. Onteru, Z-Q. Du, D. J. Garrick, K. J. Stalder, and M. F. Rothschild. 2011. Genome-wide association study identifies loci for body composition and structural soundness traits in pigs. PLoS One 10.1371/journal.pone.0014726. Forni, S., I. Aguilar, and I. Misztal. 2011. Different genomic relationship matrices for single-step analysis using phenotypic, pedigree and genomic information. Genet. Sel. Evol. 43:1. Freetly, H. C., L. A. Kuehn, and L. V. Cundiff. 2011. Growth curves of crossbred cows sired by Hereford, Angus, Belgian Blue, Brahman, Boran, and Tuli bulls, and the fraction of mature weight and weight at puberty. J. Anim. Sci. 89:2373-2379. Garmyn, A.J., D.W. Moser, R.A. Christmas, and J. Minick Bormann. 2011. Estimation of genetic parameters and effects of cytoplasmic line on scrotal circumference and semen quality traits in Angus bulls. J. Anim. Sci. 89:693-698. Garrick, D.J. 2010. An animal breeding approach to the estimation of genetic and environmental trends from field populations. J. Anim. Sci. 88:E3-E10. Garrick, D. J. 2011. The nature, scope and impact of genomic prediction in beef cattle. Genetics Selection Evolution 43:17. Garrick, D.J., and M. Saatchi. 2011. Opportunities and challenges for genomic selection of beef cattle. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia, v.40, (Special Supplement) p.310-316. H. Huang, H. C. Hines, K. M. Irvin, K. Lee, and M. E. Davis. 2011. Response to divergent selection for insulin-like growth factor-I concentration and correlated responses in growth traits in Angus cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 89:3924-3934. Habier, D., R. L. Fernando, K. Kizilkaya, and D. J. Garrick. 2011. Extension of the Bayesian Alphabet for Genomic Selection. BMC Bioinformatics 12:186. Johanson, J. M., P. J. Berger, S. Tsuruta, and I. Misztal. 2011. A Bayesian Threshold-Linear Model Evaluation of Perinatal Mortality, Dystocia, Birth Weight, and Gestation Length in a Holstein Herd. J. Dairy Sci. 94:450-460. King, D. A., S. D. Shackelford, L. A. Kuehn, C. M. Kemp, A. B. Rodriguez, R. M. Thallman, and T. L. Wheeler. 2010. Contribution of genetic influences to animal-to-animal variation in beef lean color stability. J. Anim. Sci. 88:1160-1167. Kizilkaya, K., R. L. Fernando, and D. J. Garrick. 2010. Genomic prediction of simulated multi-breed and purebred performance using observed 50k SNP genotypes. J. Anim. Sci. 88:544-551. Kizilkaya, K., D. J. Garrick, R. L. Fernando, B. Mestav, M. A. Yildiz. 2010. Use of linear mixed models for genetic evaluation of gestation length and birth weight allowing for heavy-tailed residual effects. Genetics Selection Evolution, 42:26 Kuehn, L. A., J. W. Keele, G. L. Bennett, T. G. McDaneld, T. P. L. Smith, W. M. Snelling, T. S. Sonstegard, and R. M. Thallman. 2011. Predicting breed composition using breed frequencies of 50,000 markers from the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center 2,000 bull project. J. Anim. Sci. 89:1742-1750. Lindholm-Perry, A. K., L. A. Kuehn, W. M. Snelling, T. P. L. Smith, R. L. Fernando, T. G. Jenkins, and H. C. Freetly. 2010. Polymorphisms in POMC are not associated with dry matter intake and average daily gain phenotypes in beef cattle. Anim. Genet. 41:669-670. Lindholm-Perry, A. K., G. A. Rohrer, L. A. Kuehn, J. W. Keele, J. W. Holl, S. D. Shackelford, T. L. Wheeler, and D. J. Nonneman. 2010. Genomic regions associated with kyphosis in swine. BMC Genetics 11:112. Márquez, G. C., S. E. Speidel, R. M. Enns, and D. J. Garrick. 2010. Genetic diversity and population structure of American Red Angus Cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 88:59:68. McAllister, C. M., S. E. Speidel, D. H. Crews, Jr., and R. M. Enns. 2011. Genetic parameters for intramuscular fat percentage, marbling score, scrotal circumference, and heifer pregnancy in Red Angus cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 89:2068-2072. Morris, S. T., D. J. Garrick, N. Lopez-Villalobos, P. R. Kenyon, J. L. Burke, and H. T. Blair. 2010. Growth, feed intake and maternal performance of Angus heifers selected for high or low growth and milk production. Animal Production Science, 50:349-353. Onteru, S.K., B. Fan, M. T. Nikkila, D. J. Garrick, K. J. Stalder, and M. F. Rothschild. 2011. Whole genome association analyses for lifetime reproductive traits in the pig. J. Anim. Sci. 89:988-995. Onteru, S.K., B. Fan, Z-Q. Du, D. J. Garrick, K. J. Stalder, and M. F. Rothschild. 2011. A whole-genome association study for pig reproductive traits. Animal Genetics (accepted, in press). Perez-Enciso, M., and I. Misztal. 2011. Qxpak.5: Old mixed model solutions for new genomics problems. BMC Bioinformatics.12:202. Rolf, M. M., J. F. Taylor, R. D. Schnabel, S. D. McKay, M. C. McClure, S. L. Northcutt, M. S. Kerley and R. L. Weaber. 2010. Impact of reduced marker set estimation of genomic relationship matrices on genomic selection for feed efficiency in Angus cattle. BMC Genet. 11:24. Rolf, M. M., J. F. Taylor, R. D. Schnabel, S. D. McKay, M. C. McClure, S. L. Northcutt, M. S. Kerley and R. L. Weaber. 2011. Genome-wide association analysis for feed efficiency in Angus cattle. Animal Genetics. (In press). Simeone, R., I. Misztal, I. Aguilar, and A. Legarra. 2011. Evaluation of the utility of genomic relationship matrix as a diagnostic tool to detect mislabeled genotyped animals in a broiler chicken population. J, Anim. Breed. Genet. 128(5):386-393. Smith, S. N., M. E. Davis, and S. C. Loerch. 2010. Residual feed intake of Angus beef cattle divergently selected for feed conversion ratio. Livest. Sci. 132:41-47. Snelling, W. M., M. F. Allan, J. W. Keele, L. A. Kuehn, R. M. Thallman, G. L. Bennett, C. L. Ferrell, T. G. Jenkins, H. C. Freetly, M. K. Nielsen, and K. M. Rolfe. 2011. Partial-genome evaluation of postweaning feed intake and efficiency of crossbred beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 89:1731-1741. Tsuruta, S., I. Aguilar, I. Misztal, and T. J. Lawlor. Multiple-trait genomic evaluation of linear type traits using genomic and phenotypic data in US Holsteins. J. Dairy Sci. 94:4198-4204. Vitezica, Z. G., I. Aguilar, I. Misztal, and A. Legarra. Bias in Genomic Predictions for Populations Under Selection. Genet. Res. Camb. 93:357366. Vergara, O. D., M. F. Ceron, and M. A. Elzo. 2010. Models for multibreed genetic evaluation  Weaning weight in cattle. Revista MVZ Cordoba 15:1985-1996. Ward, R. E., B.Woodward, N. Otter, and O. Doran. 2010. Relationship between the expression of key lipogenic enzymes, fatty acid composition, and intramuscular fat content of Limousin and Aberdeen Angus cattle. Lvstk. Sci. 127:22-29. Weaber, R. L. 2010. Breed and composite breed selection. In: M.K. Nielsen (ed.) Beef Sire Selection Manual. Second Edition. National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium. Ithaca, NY. Weaber, R. L. 2010. Crossbreeding for commercial beef production. In M.K. Nielsen (ed.) Beef Sire Selection Manual Second Edition. National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium. Ithaca, NY. Weaber, R. L. and J. L. Lusk. 2010. The economic value of improvements in beef tenderness by genetic marker selection. Amer. J. Agr. Econ. 92(5):1456-1471 Wolc, A., J. Arango, P. Settar, J.E. Fulton, N.P. OSullivan, R. Presinger, D. Habier, R. Fernando, D.J. Garrick, and J.C.M. Dekkers. 2011. Persistence of accuracy of genomic estimated breeding values over generations in layer chickens. Genet. Sel. Evol., 43:23. Wolc, A., C. Stricker, J. Arango, P. Settar, J. E. Fulton, N. P. OSullivan, D. Habier, R. Fernando, D. J. Garrick, S. J. Lamont, J. C. M. Dekkers. 2011. Breeding value prediction for production traits in layer chickens using pedigree or genomic relationships in a reduced animal model. Genet. Sel. Evol., 43:5. Wu, X-L, T.M. Beissinger, S. Bauck, B. Woodward, G.J.M. Rosa, K.A. Weigel, N. de Leon Gatti, and D. Gianola. 2011. A primer on high-throughput computing for genomic selection. Front. Gene. 2:4. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2011.00004. Yeamkong, S., S. Koonawootrittriron, M. A. Elzo and T. Suwanasopee. 2010. Effect of experience, education, record keeping, labor and decision making on monthly milk yield and revenue of dairy farms supported by a private organization in Central Thailand. Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 23:814-824. Zhao, X., K. E. Dittmer, H. T. Blair, K. G. Thompson, M. F. Rothschild and D. J. Garrick. 2011. A novel nonsense mutation in the DMP1 gene identified by a genome-wide association study is responsible for inherited rickets in Corriedale sheep. PLoS One 10.1371/journal.pone.0021739. Abstracts Aguilar, I., and I. Misztal. 2011. Computational challenges in genetic evaluation with really big datasets. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):226. Bennett, G. L., W. M. Snelling, R. M. Thallman, Keele J.W. & Kuehn L.A. (2011 Overview of genomic selection in small populations of beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):665. (Abstract #598). Casas, E., L. A. Kuehn, T. G. McDaneld, T. P. L. Smith, and J. W. Keele. 2011. Genomic regions associated with incidence of disease in cattle using DNA pooling and a high density single nucleotide polymorphism array. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):158. (Abstract #18). Chen C. Y., I. Misztal1, S. Tsuruta, J. Holl, W. O. Herring, and M. Culbertson. Genetic correlation between purebred piglet birth weight and crossbred performance. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):474. Cushman, R. A., L. A. Kuehn, R. M. Thallman, W. M. Snelling, and H. C. Freetly. 2011. Using ultrasonography to determine reproductive tract development in beef heifers. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):418-419. (Abstract #327). Davis, R., I. Misztal, M. Lukaszewicz, S. Tsuruta, and J. K. Bertrand. 2011. Genetic correlations between purebred Limousin and F1 Limousin*Angus. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):475. Elzo, M. A., G. C. Lamb, D. D. Johnson, M. G. Thomas, I. Misztal, D. O. Rae, J. G. Wasdin, and J. D. Driver. 2011. Genomic evaluation of Angus-Brahman multibreed cattle for feed efficiency and postweaning growth using the Illumina 3k chip. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):533. Faux, P., N. Gengler, and I. Misztal. 2011. A recursive method of approximation of the inverse of genomic relationships matrix. J. Dairy Sci. 94(E-Suppl. 1):163. Hay, E., H. Wang, X. Liu, B. Woodward, S. Bauck, and R. Rekaya. 2011. A neural network approach for association between a low-density whole genome SNP marker panel for 19 traits in beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 89:533, E-Suppl. 1. Kachman, S. D., G. L. Bennett, K. J. Hanford, L. A. Kuehn, E. J. Pollak, W. M. Snelling, M. L. Spangler, and R. M. Thallman. 2011. Incorporating molecular breeding values with variable call rates into genetic evaluations. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):164. (Abstract #34). Kuehn, L. A., E. Casas, G. L. Bennett, C. G. Chitko-McKown, J. W. Keele, T. G. McDaneld, W. M. Snelling, and R. M. Thallman. 2011. Genomics of bovine respiratory disease complex at USMARC. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 2):61-62. (Abstract #43). Kuehn, L. A., J. W. Keele, E. Casas, S. Jones, D. A. King, T. G. McDaneld, T. P. L. Smith, and T. L. Wheeler. 2011. Use of sample pooling in a genome-wide association study identifies chromosomal regions affecting incidence of bovine respiratory disease. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):422. (Abstract #336). Legarra, A., I. Misztal, and I. Aguilar. 2011. The single step: genomic evaluation for all. Proc. 61th Ann. Mtg. EAAP:1. Lindholm-Perry, A. K., L. A. Kuehn, T. P. L. Smith, W. M. Snelling, and H. C. Freetly. 2011. Genetic markers in bovine chromosome 14 are significant for residual feed intake in steers. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):422-423. Lindholm-Perry, A. K., A. K. Sexten, L. A. Kuehn, T. P. L. Smith, D. A. King, S. D. Shackelford, T L. Wheeler, W. M. Snelling, and H. C. Freetly. 2011. The effects of genetic markers on BTA6 significant for steer feed intake and gain traits on carcass and meat traits. Proc. Plant & Anim. Genome XIX Conf. Page 230. (Poster No. P321). Lino, D. A., S. Tsuruta, I. Misztal, E. N. Martins, and L. O. C. Silva. 2011. Age of dam as phenotypic source of variation for body weight in Nellore beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):528. Lockee, B. B., R. M. Lewis, M. S. Ames, G. C. Márquez, R. M. Enns, and E. J. Pollak. 2011. Increasing access through collaboration: a multi-Institutional approach to distance program Development. No. 109 in Proc. Assoc. Education Commun. Technol., Anaheim, CA (Abstr.). Lukaszewicz, M., I. Misztal, A. H. Nelson, J. P. Sa nchez, and J. K. Bertrand. 2011. Comparison of body weight genetic evaluation accuracy by random regression with splines and multi-trait model in Limousins. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):530 Misztal, I. 2011. Is genomic selection a one size fits all? J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):664. Misztal, I., C. Y. Chen, I. Aguilar, Z. G. Vitezica, A.Legarra, A. and W. M. Muir. 2011. Effect of different genomic relationship matrices on accuracy and scale. Proc. 61th Ann. Mtg. EAAP:394. Misztal, I., C. Y. Chen, I. Aguilar, Z. G. Vitezica, A. Legarra, and W. M. Muir. 2011., Effect of different genomic relationship matrices on accuracy and scale. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):163. Myer, R. O. and M. A. Elzo. 2010. Effect of residual feed intake, gender, and breed composition on blood urea nitrogen concentration in an Angus-Brahman multi-breed herd. J. Anim. Sci. 88 (E-Suppl. 2):706-707. Snelling, W. M., R. A. Cushman, G. L. Bennett, J. W. Keele, L. A. Kuehn, T. G. McDaneld, R. M. Thallman, and M. G. Thomas. 2011. How SNP chips will advance our knowledge of factors controlling puberty and aid in selecting replacement females. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):494. (Abstract #534). Spangler, M. L., E. J. Pollak, S. D. Kachman, K. J. Hanford, R. M. Thallman, G. L. Bennett, L. A. Kuehn, and W. M. Snelling. 2011. Enhancing knowledge and technology adoption in a misunderstood discipline: The weight trait project. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):484. (Abstract #509). Taxis, T. T., W. R. Shafer, L. L. Berger, D. B. Faulkner, J. E. Beever, M. M. Rolf, D. L. Dow, J. F. Taylor, C. L. Lorenzen, and R. L. Weaber. 2011. Relationships among beef cattle temperament and tenderness traits using repeated performance records. J. An. Sci., Volume 89, (E-Supplement 1). 529. (Abstr.) Tokuhisa, K., S. Tsuruta, and I. Misztal. 2011. Relationships between mortality and 305-d milk yield of Holstein cows in three regions in US. J. Dairy Sci. 94(E-Suppl. 1):705. Tsuruta S., I. Misztal, I. Aguilar, and T. Lawlor. 2011. Accuracy and bias of multiple-trait genomic evaluations for linear type traits in US Holsteins. J. Dairy Sci. 94(E-Suppl. 1):533. Wang, H., and I. Misztal. 2011. Comparisons of numerator and genomic and relationship matrices. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):163. 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