Ch. 9 — Advances in Reproductive Biology and Their Effects on Animal Improvement • 183 
idiii’es goats. (U'lietif evaluations tor yield of 
: dairy goat hueks w ill he av ailable hetore the end 
|Ot fiscal year 1980. Bt'cause limited genetic im- 
provement tor yielil has occui red in tlairv goats 
in the past thest' evaluations will prohahly have 
|a sigtiit'icant im[)act on the industry. .\ll’l, can 
V irtually guarantee htMieticial results because of 
.the ilata available from .XCDlllP. its own e.xper- 
ti.se in genetics, statistics, and com|)ut(>r tech- 
tiolog^v . and the dt'cades ot highlv effectiv e re- 
search on genetic imf)rovement of dairy cattle 
that can he aila[)ted for the dairv goat industry. 
HowevtM'. fuiuling for the goat testing program 
'ivmains on a v ear-to-v ear basis. 
! CONCl.l SION 
' .\('l)tllP has show II how im|)ortant genetic in- 
'formation is to tl«‘ production of meat and dairy 
products. The obstacles to such a pi’ogram ai'e 
also formidable, hut every failure to capitalize 
on genetic potential is paid foi' by .American 
consumers. It has also show n that w here selec- 
tion objectiv es can he identified and agreed on, 
and w here conflicting interests can he brought 
itogether to develop a [)rogram serving all in- 
Iteresls. genetic improv ement can become a cen- 
tral objective in breeding programs across the 
jcountry. Without reliable, evaluative data on 
breeding stock the Nation s breeders will have 
little interest in adopting new breeding technol- 
ogies as they become av ailahle. 
Impacts on breeding 
j An improvement in germplasm, like an in- 
crease in the nutritional content of fertilizer or 
new and improv ed herbicides and pesticides, in- 
'Creases the quality of the physical capital used 
•on the farm. It is likely that much improvement 
jean still be made in the germplasm of all major 
farm animal species using existing technologv’. 
1 Selecting for desired characteristics causes a 
Ispecific qualitativ e change; it enhances the effi- 
jciency of the information contained w ithin each 
cell. The genetic information in each cell of a 
farm animal is either more or less desirable or 
iOfficient than information in the cells of another 
animal, depending on how it performs on im- 
<portant traits. Superior germplasm can be used 
in breeding decisions to upgrade a farmer’s 
breeding or producing stock. (DHIA programs 
are the best example of how information might 
be distributed.) 
Resources invested in genetics and in technol- 
ogies related to genetics will have high payoffs— 
e.g., in a classic study*® of the payoff to research 
in hybrid corn and in subsequent studies of 
other types of genetic improvement, a high 
costAjenefit ratio for such research was found. 
The original study also show'ed that the absolute 
market value of a particular product is an im- 
portant factor influencing the rate of return on 
a given research expenditure. In general, the 
greater the aggregate value of the product, the 
greater the rate of return on a research expend- 
iture.'^ Thus, the large expenditures for meat 
and animal products in the United States sug- 
gest a great payoff in applied genetic research. 
Beef purchases alone account for between 2 and 
5 percent of the American consumer dollar, and 
the total maii<et value for beef is more than 
twice that for corn in the United States. 
DAIRY CATTLE 
Total milk production has been stable for 
many years. W hile milk production per cow has 
gone steadily upward, the number of cows 
during the past 35 years has decreased propor- 
tionately. (See figure 29.) Milk production per 
cow should continue to increase, assuming that 
no radical changes in present management sys- 
tems occur. The increase in production per cow 
could continue even if no bulls superior to those 
already available are found, simply as a result of 
more farms switching to existing technology 
and existing bulls. Moreover, bulls produced 
from this system are increasing in superiority. 
The number of dairy cows calved as of Janu- 
ary 1, 1980, was 10,810,000. It has remained rel- 
ativ'ely stable for the past year, but may de- 
■®Zvi Griliches, "Research Costs and Social Returns: Hybrid Corn 
and Related Innovations, "Journal of Political Economy 66:419, Oc- 
tober 1958. See also R. E. Evenson, P. E. VV'aggoner, and V'. VV. Rut- 
tan, "Economic Benefit From Research: An Example From Agricul- 
ture," Science 205:1 101, Sept. 14, 1979. 
■nv. Peterson and Vujino Hayami, "Technical Change in Agricul- 
ture," Staff Papers series No. DP73-20, Department of Agriculture 
and Applied Economics, Uni\ersity of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn., 
July 1973. 
