Prime_Time_spring_2019

Akaushi Numbers Boom Using Embryo Transfer

BY MACEY MUELLER, FREELANCE WRITER

For 25 years, Akaushi genetics have been improv- ing carcass performance and premium opportunities in the U.S. beef industry, but not without overcoming a few challenges – including minimal numbers and lim- ited genetics – as the breed has developed in the states. Starting with just 11 tight- ly-related, fullblood Akaushi – eight females and three bulls – imported from Japan in 1994, the domestic herd has now grown to more than 14,000 head. That rapid and intentional propa- gation was due in large part to Dr. John Shull, who began using an extensive embryo transfer program in late 2001 to build the breed. Under the Burnet, Texas, veterinarian’s skilled hand, the herd quickly flourished and, in 2004 alone, more than 1,400 Akaushi calves hit the ground. Shull, a board-certified theriogenologist, has been involved with embryo trans-

owned Brazos Valley Ge- netics since 1999. He says embryo transfer aims to propagate the genetics of a specific cow and bull on more than one calf per year. He is often able to complete six to eight collections on one cow each year, and with an average of six embryos per collection, one cow can provide 40-50 embryos each year. Pregnancy rates aver- age a little better than 50 percent when transferred into a surrogate female, and Shull has made more than 12,000 of those trans- fers since starting on the Akaushi project. “Instead of having one calf per cow that first year – if they all got pregnant – we could have 20-30 calves per cow per year,” he says. “Em- bryo transfer makes propa- gation much more efficient in a short amount of time.” And that propagation is important to improving beef quality. More than 95 percent of Akaushi cattle grade Choice or above, and Shull has been especially

impressed with the breed’s unique ability to improve marbling, even in just a half- blood commercial operation. “There’s just no better way to increase that per- centage of intramuscular fat,” he says. “I’ve seen Akaushi carcasses next to those of other finished steers, and it’s just amazing to see the difference.” Expanding the genetic resources available to U.S. producers was another goal of the embryo trans- fer project. Shull worked closely with Elgin Breed- ing Service, Elgin, Texas, to create diversity among the offspring of the original eight cows. Since the initial founda- tion nucleus of the herd was so small, embryo transfer al- lowed Shull to get more mat- ings that were more diverse in their genetic makeup. This was key to successfully growing the breed. “There weren’t very many branches on that initial Akaushi genetic tree,” Shull says. 

fer work for more than three decades and has

Sherri Bentke and son, Corey, feed cubes to a set of young fullblood Akaushi cows on their ranch near Brenham, Texas. The Bentkes have been raising Akaushi embryo transfer calves for nearly two decades.

Akaushi Prime Time • Spring 2019

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