Applying benefit cost analysis to the evaluation of mating strategies in beef production enterprises

Livestock improvement programs increasingly incorporate economic criteria in their dects1on making process, and in particular, in the selection objectives. Frequently a simplified criteria for selecting strategies is applied which doesn't effectively incorporate all the information described Genetic improvement is a major criteria for the evaluation of most livestock improvement programs, however, increasingly aspects such as the level of inbreeding are mediating factors and are leading to a reevaluation of selection schemes and reconsideration of the impact of selection based on Best Linear Unbiased Predictions (BLUP) This study analyses the results from a simulation using mate selection approaches to look at the joint regulation of inbreeding and genetic improvement. Seven schemes were compared in the simulation (including selection by BLUP estimates and Mass selection) The results from these schemes were assessed using a benefit cost analysis A simplified model of the system is described, this allowing the time series data for general benefits and associated costs to be detailed and analysed. The analyses shows movement in the relative value of the normally applied strategy as the inclusion and impact of the inbreeding criteria is raised. This method provides an easily applied approach to the evaluation of such paralle..dme series data, common in the area of animal breeding