Firstly, we would like to welcome Thi Lai To back to the Livestock Gentec team.      Lai is a research technician who will be helping with genotype inventorying and order proc     essing in the “Using genomics to improve the profitability and sustainability of Alberta’s beef industry” project and lab work and coordination for the NSERC project: “Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Canadian Beef Industry through the Development and Adoption of Genomic Tools”. Lai is very passionate about innovations and applying new technology in livestock research. She likes to plan out/detail projects keeping herself busy in the labs and continuously explore new learning opportunities. Outside of work, she enjoys making no weekend plans, which allow her “to just do whatever I feel like: having a long walk, cooking or staying at the library.”

Pictured: Thi Lai To, Laboratory Technician setting a great example with PPE use in the lab.

While we are sad to see him go, we want to congratulate Dr. Tiago Valente on his new position with AbacusBio and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours. Please reach out to lsgentec@ualberta.caif you require any assistance for matters Dr. Valente was supporting.

Livestock Gentec knowledge upcoming knowledge transfer activities Spring/Summer 2025

Dr. John Basarab Livestock Gentec CEO, will be giving several presentations over the next few months:

Researcher spotlight

Dr. John Basarab has been featured on the webinar series Researcher spotlight Thursday, March 13, 2025. Dr. Basarab discussed innovative genomic tools developed by Livestock Gentec and the University of Alberta to help commercial beef producers boost their profitability, reduce the carbon footprint of beef production and help cattle adapt to changing environments. It will be posted on this link shortly:

https://www.ualberta.ca/en/alumni/media-library/researcherspotlight.pdf

He will also be giving presentation at the following events:

• Gateway Research Organization (GRO) AGM March 28 at 11:00 am in Hazel Bluff Hall, 15 min west of Westlock
• Genetics and Breeding seminar for the for Peace Country Beef & Forage Association on June 4 in Valleyview, Alberta
• DNA Webinar Carcass Competition Windup for July 22 in Lacombe

Jennifer Paterson will also be sharing research results and knowledge from her projects at events and online:

Jennifer will be presenting at the Ontario Swine Conference on March 26th (https://ontarioswineconference.ca/day2/). This joint presentation, in collaboration with TJ Klopp and Kendra Foran from Cedarvilla Farms (https://www.cedarvilla.net/about), is titled ‘Gilts: The Foundation of Your Herd – Science into Practice.’ The presentation will take a team-based approach, with Jenny focusing on the “Science”, while TJ and Kendra will cover the “Practice”. The discussion will emphasize both the opportunities and challenges of translating science into the barn.

Jenny also had the opportunity to speak with Matthew Rooda on the Popular Pig Podcast about Gilt Development. The episode will be released soon. You can check it out at Popular Pig Podcast https://popularpig.com/podcasts/

One of Livestock Gentec’s key focuses is supporting producers in putting “Science into Practice”. Jenny is passionate about taking sow farm data and turning it into valuable reports on gilt development – enabling the barn team to track progress and to make data-driven decisions. She has had the pleasure of conducting several online and on-farm visits with barn teams to discuss her two favorite subjects – data and gilt management.

The 2025 Banff Pork Seminar, held from January 7-9, was a major success, with 803 attendees from across the industry. Key topics included, labor, markets, trade, sow, nursery and grow-finish management, survivability, swine health, feed and nutrition and welfare. Networking breaks before and after the sessions provided valuable opportunities to connect with both old and new colleagues and friends in the industry.

Sow Management breakout session

Livestock Gentec’s Jennifer Patterson presented in the breakout production session on Sow Management, which was well-received, with the three presentations complementing each other nicely.

Jennifer started off the session discussing “Gilt Development – Laying the Foundation for Future Performance” and highlighted that effective gilt management from birth through parity 1 is crucial for improving sow lifetime productivity (SLP). Focusing on key practices such as early selection, efficient Gilt Development Unit (GDU) management, and ensuring proper gilt eligibility at first mating represent an opportunity to improve and enhance overall production. Jennifer challenged the audience to rethink their approach to gilt development, highlighting that the ultimate goal is not just a successful first breeding and parity 1 litter size but ensuring the “right” gilt reaches the farrowing room, which will improve early parity retention and, ultimately, lifetime performance of the breeding herd.

Courtney Werth from South West Ontario Veterinary Services, followed with her presentation on “Weight Watchers – Insights from Ontario Sow Herds”. She highlighted the importance of gilt weight at first service for influencing optimal lifetime performance of sows.  She then discussed the opportunity (and challenges!) to use precision livestock technology, particularly use of electronic sow feeders (ESF) in combination with weigh scales to implement precision feed intake curves during gestation to maintain ideal body condition with the goal to maximize production, improve retention and maximize feed utilization.

Chris Opschoor from Topigs Norsvin Research Center rounded out the session with his talk on “Between Gestation and Lactation a Transition is Made” where he highlighted the importance of ensuring that sows arrive in the farrowing room prepared for the physiological challenges of lactation. He discussed in detail the transition from late gestation to farrowing and its impact on the farrowing process, colostrum and milk production. Chris provided practical recommendations for managing the transition period, emphasizing that proper management and nutrition during this time plays a key role is subsequent performance and productivity.

Please see https://www.banffpork.ca/program/2025-speakers/ for more detail and to download the presentations.

Sonja Allen is exploring new strategies to improve sow lifetime productivity

PhD graduate student Sonja Allen presented a poster at BPS on “Preliminary insights into improving sow lifetime productivity and pig quality through phenotypic and genomic analysis”. This work is part of Gentec’s NSERC research collaboration with Hypor – Hendrix Genetics. Sonja highlighted that achieving profitability and sustainability in the Canadian swine industry requires optimizing Sow Lifetime Productivity (SLP) and that the swine industry faces challenges due to the early culling and mortality of young parity females contributing to the low retention rates and overall productivity.

Although in the early stages of her research, Sonja outlined the main objectives of her study: 1) identifying key traits of superior gilts and analyzing growth and feed intake during gestation and lactation, 2) exploring strategies to enhance litter growth and weaning weights, and 3) identifying genetic and phenotypic relationships between traits to improve SLP and production profitability. These insights are critical for improving gilt selection, management practices, and breeding programs in commercial swine production. We are excited about what she will discover in the future.

Dalhousie University, Lakeland College and University of Alberta are conducting simultaneous feed efficiency and enteric emissions assessments on beef cattle. These trials are part of our NSERC-SSHRC funded project: “Using genomic tools to reduce GHG & Methane in beef cattle”. Feed efficiency is measured with GrowSafe^® and enteric emissions are being measured with GreenFeed^® emission monitoring systems. We have genotyped and we are collecting fecal samples from these animals during the trial. We aim to develop molecular breeding values and selection indexes for green house gas emissions and production efficiency with the project      data. We will collect Near Infrared Spectra on the fecal samples to develop a low cost      proxy phenotype for enteric emissions by using ML and AI tools for processing the data. We are also in the process of coordinating with collaborators on additional research sites to contribute to the project dataset.

Pictured: Obioha Durunna from Lakeland College collecting fecal samples by rectal palpation for later Near Infrared Spectroscopy.

The project: “Using genomics to improve the profitability and sustainability of Alberta’s beef industry” is funded by a grant awarded to Dr. John Basarab in 2024, funded by Sustainable CAP and administered by RDAR. In this project we are collecting key phenotypic data from producers and providing informative genomic value reports. These genomic value reports provide the following data: genomic breed composition, retained heterozygosity, molecular breeding values for 12 phenotypes, and Livestock Gentec’s Replacement Heifer Profit I     ndex^TM and the Feeder Profit Index^TM. Further, producers participating in the project can genotype their animals at a discount rate ($20/animal). The genotyping cost is shared between the project and Neogen our sequencing partner. In exchange for the discounted genotyping and genomic values report, participating producers are required to collect some basic phenotypic data from their herds to enhance our reference dataset. We have already collected over 9,000 genotypes in this project     . If you are interested in participating, please see the QR codes to learn more and information to sign up. Please reach out to lsgentec@ualberta.ca if you have any questions.

Publications

Hailemariam, D., Manafiazar, G., Baes, C., Schenkel, F., Miglior, F., Stothard, P., Plastow, G. (2025) Circulating serum metabolites as biomarkers and predictors of residual feed intake in lactating dairy cows. Sci. Reports 15, 1709. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-85610-1

Hailemariam, D., Manafiazar, G., Baes, C., Schenkel, F., Miglior, F., Stothard, P., Plastow, G. (2025) Circulating serum metabolites as biomarkers and predictors of residual feed intake in lactating dairy cows. Sci. Reports 15, 1709. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-85610-1

Virtuoso, M.C.S., Aalhus, J.L., Juárez, M., López-Campos, O., Bruce, H.L., Li, C., Basarab, J.A., Plastow, G. Valente, T.S. (2025) Genetic parameters and genomic insights for meat colour traits of Canadian crossbred beef cattle. Can J. Anim. Sci. 105:1-13. doi.org/10.1139/cjas-2024-0074

Virtuoso, M.C.S., Aalhus, J.L., Juárez, M., López-Campos, O., Bruce, H.L., Li, C., Basarab, J.A., Plastow, G. Valente, T.S. (2025) Genetic parameters and genomic insights for meat colour traits of Canadian crossbred beef cattle. Can J. Anim. Sci. 105:1-13. doi.org/10.1139/cjas-2024-0074