The Repronomics research project, funded by Meat & Livestock Australia, aims to genetically improve female reproduction of three tropical beef breeds in northern Australia – Brahman, Droughtmaster and Santa Gertrudis. To date 7 cohorts (#14-#20) of calves have been born at two DAF research herds (Brian Pastures and Spyglass) and the NT Douglas Daly herd. These calves have all been extensively phenotyped, in particular for female reproduction traits. Female reproduction traits were defined using ovarian scans to accurately identify the age at puberty and time to recycle after their first calf. Project sires are identified to represent influential or emerging genetics used across the industry. Project animals have been genotyped and contribute to the genomic reference populations.

The following papers were presented at the conferences of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

Johnston, D J; Grant, T P; Schatz, T J; Burns, B M; Fordyce, G and Lyons, R E (2017). The Repronomics project - enabling genetic improvement in reproduction in northern Australia. Proceedings of the 22nd Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Townsville, Queensland. 2-5 July, pp 385-388.

Johnston, D J and Grant, T P (2017). Factors influencing gestation length in tropically adapted beef cattle breeds in northern Australia. Proceedings of the 22nd Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Townsville, Queensland. 2-5 July, pp 393- 396.

Johnston, D J and K L Moore (2019). Genetic correlations between days to calving and other male and female reproduction traits in Brahman cattle. Proceedings of the 23rd Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Armidale, NSW. 27 October-1 November, pp 354-357.

Moore; K L; Girard, C J; Grant, T P and Johnston, D J (2019). Increases in accuracy of female reproduction genetic evaluations for beef breeds in northern Australia. Proceedings of the 23rd Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Armidale, NSW. 27 October-1 November, pp 366-369.

Moore, K L; Grant, T P and Johnston, D J (2021). Genetic analysis of body condition and growth traits in beef females within and across ages and physiological states. Proceedings of the 24th Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. 2-4 November, pp 247-250.