Sergio Rutowitsch of Brahman PILAR ranch in Marica, Brazil, is in the business of producing bulls and selling semen to commercial producers in Brazil and around the world. After being one of the four pioneer breeders to bring Brahman cattle to Brazil and selling more than 500,000 straws of Brahman semen, he continues to find new ways to produce a superior product — both for his customers and beef consumers.

"Since 2004, we have been following the studies involving carcass quality improvement and the surge of molecular markers," Rutowitsch says. "In spite of our experience in producing desirable sires, it became very clear to us that a much deeper dive into the world of DNA markers would be necessary to understand the genetic jewels that science was uncovering for the beef industry."

Rutowitsch believes producers are doing themselves a disfavor if they are not taking advantage of all available technology.

"You cannot improve something you cannot measure," he says. "EPD's have been an extraordinary help in accomplishing our mating for objectives, but DNA marker technology extends such possibilities to new horizons of quality, we could not even dream of, until they appeared."

Rutowtisch adds that the impact of the molecular markers is so substantial in presenting the operation's products to their clients that it forced them to change our slogan from "Quality and Technology in Brahman" to "Brahman PILAR: Meat Quality in Animal Quality."

For these reasons, Rutowitsch together with a partner, Brahman KILOMBO, developed Project PPK, — a project to determine the effectiveness of DNA technology and its application. He said the first, and perhaps most important, step was choosing a DNA technology provider.

"Merial satisfies two key criteria we were looking for in a DNA technology provider with the IGENITY profile," he says. "First, the partner we chose had to be a reliable international giant — a company with a history of success in handling innovative science, the financial muscle to compete and the global leadership to succeed in this category. Second, our partner had to speak science in a language that is understandable by common people like us and our clients. We decided that Merial should become our partner, and each week our satisfaction grows."

Rutowitsch says the success of using of the IGENITY profile has become apparent in several ways, starting with improvement in scores after a strategic mating program.

"In the first 600 head we tested, only 17 head, or 3 percent, had a score of 6 or better for tenderness. In spite of the limited amount of females with the desirable score of tenderness, after some guided matings, in January 2008 we had 30 calves born from an embryo transfer program. Of those calves nine, or 33 percent, had a tenderness score of 6 or better."

Rutowitsch says their use of the IGENITY profile has gotten the attention of customers and helped add marketability to cattle at a recent sale.

"At a recent embryo auction, the information from IGENITY was given on all sires and dams. Three traditional Brazilian breeders made a point of purchasing animals in the sale and said they are committed to this new quality reference," he explains. "The following night, two more females were sold, and it was clear that the IGENITY profile had a positive influence on their sale value."

He adds that DNA technology is catching on in the industry. For example, a top breeder of Uberaba (traditional Brazilian zebu area) shared with him that his most important bull buyer said that from now on, he wants access to DNA scores for all bulls prior to actually seeing them to select and buy.

"Our sire selection approach is now totally committed to involving marker-assisted selection and marketing with the IGENITY profile. We have set filters of excellence using the scores from IGENITY. We can focus our sire production on specific markets like cattle producers for feedyards, where feed efficiency is a must, but a filter for minimum score of tenderness as the best investment for the future.," Rutowitsch says. "The decision to perform a specific mating is the genesis of genetic enhancement and determines the future of the operation. The IGENITY profile gives us the ability to see things that were previously invisible."