For Producers - 2010 Sire EPD's

There are a total of 288 Sires in this summary.  Click on the trait below to see the complete list sorted by that specific trait.    See below for a description of each trait.

National Barrow Show Sire Summary
Berkshire
1996-2010

The American Berkshire Sire Summary

Ken Stalder, PhD Associate Professor and Extension Swine Specialist and Marja Nikkila, MS, Graduate Research Assistant

Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University, Ames, IA

Welcome to this issue of the National Barrow Show (NBS) Sire Summary. The American Berkshire Association, the National Barrow Show along with Iowa State University proudly presents the most-comprehensive evaluation of economic traits available in the swine industry.

This Spring 2010 edition is based on all performance data obtained for animals submitted to the National Barrow Show Sire Progeny Test program between March, 1996 and March, 2010.  This program is managed by the Hormel Foods Company. of Austin, MN in cooperation with the Minnesota Pork Producers Association (MPPA), National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), National Pork Board (NPB), National Association of Swine Records (NASR), Iowa State University (ISU), and the University of Minnesota (UMN).  The goal of the NBS program is to provide pork producers with performance data describing seedstock populations.

The NBS Sire Progeny Test groups were evaluated for growth, carcass quality, meat quality, loin muscle composition and cooked loin eating quality traits.  This program was open to all US pure breed or line breeders on a voluntary entry basis. 

All breeders of pure breeds or breeding company lines were invited to enter sire progeny groups of eight pigs representing at least three litters.  Entry requirements were a three generation pedigree for each pig, including birth date, pseudorabies free herd of origin, average pig weight of 40-70 lbs., and castration and tail docking is completed. All pigs in a test group were delivered to the central test station on the same day.

Once all of the data is collected, it was evaluated using the latest software for conducting genetic evaluations using the full animal model. The full animal model takes into account all of the ancestry information from all animals when calculating the Estimated Progeny Differences or EPDs for all of the traits evaluated during the NBS progeny test. Expected progeny differences provide estimates of the genetic value of an animal as a parent. Specifically, differences in EPDs between two boars of the same breed predict differences in performance between their future offspring when each is mated to sows or gilts having the same average genetic merit. The EPDs are calculated for growth, backfat, and a variety of meat quality traits and are reported in the same units of measurement as the trait (ie lbs. for adg, inches for backfat, etc.). The EPD values may compared only between animals of the same breed.

The terms evaluated and presented in this sire summary include:

BOAR - Name of sire and registration number.
PROGENY - Maximum number of progeny tested for any trait.

ADG - Unadjusted progeny average daily gain, lbs/day.
ADG_EPD - Genetic value for ADG, lbs/day.

BF10 - Unadjusted progeny tenth rib backfat, inches.
BF10_EPD - Genetic value for BF10, inches.

HUNTER - Unadjusted Hunter L color score of progeny loins
HUNTER_EPD - Genetic value of Hunter L color score. (low is best).

IMF - Unadjusted progeny loin intramuscular fat, percent.
IMF_EPD - Genetic value of loin intramuscular fat, percent.

PH - Unadjusted ultimate pH of progeny loins.
PH_EPD - Genetic value for loin ultimate pH (high is best).

TENDER - Unadjusted panel score for loin tenderness (score of 1-10; 10 best).
TEND_EPD - Genetic value for loin tenderness score (higher is best).

INSTRON - Unadjusted Instron loin tenderness pressure, kg.
INST_EPD - Genetic value for Instron loin pressure (low is best).

COOKLOSS - Unadjusted progeny loin cooking loss, percent.
COOK_EPD - Genetic value for cooking loss, percent (low is best)

JUICY - Unadjusted panel score for loin juiciness (score of 1-10; 10 best)
JUICY_EPD - Genetic value for loin juiciness score (higher is best)

LMA_SQ INCH - Unadjusted loin muscle area (square inches)
LMA_EPD - Genetic value for loin muscle area (higher is best)