Substantial improvements in production efficiency and quality of beef and dairy products have been made possible through manipulation of bovine genetics.
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The advent of modern breeds in the last two centuries,
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the institution of phenotypic selection practices and quantitative genetics, even the process of domestication in the distant past, /
have all represented means to make use of naturally occurring variation in the genome to tailor the animal for a desired outcome.
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We discuss the history of genome research in cattle and recent technological advances that promise a leap forward in the use of DNA sequence to facilitate selection,
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in which a detailed genome-level view for individual animals may provide comprehensive and relatively accurate assessment of the consequences,/
both desired and unintended, of genetic selection for livestock production.
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