A large international consortium (1000 Bull Genomes) of animal genetic researchers has attempted to explain the genetic background of cattle stature. It collected data from more than 50,000 animals of 8 different breeds from 9 countries.
This first big meta-analysis for livestock animals showed that height of cattle, and probably many more complex traits such as fertility and production, is influenced by a large number of genes. The results of the study were published in Nature Genetics in February 2018.
Better prediction models
This large-scale research on cattle stature provides knowledge that can be applied to develop better genomic prediction models. This can be very important for new traits that are too expensive to measure on a large scale, such as feed intake or health of individual cows or, for instance, for small traditional breeds.