The Distribution of Risk and Reward in Extensive Livestock Improvement Systems, Their Consequences and Possible Responses

Abstract

A range of players or sectors make investments into genetic improvement in the extensive livestock industries, but overall returns are heavily dependent on decisions made by bull- (and ram-) breeders. They in turn rely on sales of genetic material to cover their own investments and maintain profitability. Some broad-scale characteristics of the investments and of the markets for genetic material are reviewed, leading to the observation of very high uncertainty in those markets. This uncertainty is almost certainly acting as a brake on genetic progress, and some possible approaches to reduce the uncertainty are considered. Such approaches will aim to improve efficiency of the market for genetic material, and will need to be designed to be robust, transparent and simple and cheap to apply.