Link to the original article or read on below
Written by Clint Peck and published by Beef Magazine April 13, 2026
Sometimes the prom queen and the prom king should’ve never had children—or sometimes it’s a match made in heaven.
That’s the mantra resonating from Leoma Donsbach when she talks about the science of genomics and beef cattle breeding. The difference in cattle is that we can peek under the exterior to examine the genetic compatibility of the prospective parents.
And to minimize “wasted matings” in their cow herd, Donsbach and her husband, Kirk, ranch near Roy, Montana. And for the past several years, the Donsbach’s have been wrapping the science of genomics around their cows in an effort to get everything they can out of the genetics they bring onto the place.
Leoma Donsbach worked for the American Simmental Association for 12 years. There, she said she found her “home” as genomics testing started becoming commercially available around 2009.
“When Simmental started down that path, I quickly saw how we were investing in the future,” Donsbach said. “That work really sparked my interest in pedigrees, and I could see that genomics was the wave of the future.”
Genomics in cattle breeding was progressing slowly at that time, though, much due to the high cost of analyzing complex and massive datasets. Genomic testing in cattle uses single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) technology to analyze thousands of DNA markers (typically 10,000–100,000) from an animal’s tissue sample.
Any breakthrough in the technology required affordable, high-throughput SNP marker analysis for specific animal traits and accurate phenotypic recordings. That in turn required substantial computer power to generate accurate genomic-enhanced expected progeny differences (GE-EPDs) provided through breed associations.
Therefore, it’s taken some time for genomics to reach beyond the seedstock sector and show promise of paying off for commercial cattle ranchers.
“For seedstock producers, genomic testing is a no-brainer,” explained Tara Felix, PhD, beef cattle specialist with PennState Extension. “For commercial cattlemen, as genomic testing costs continue to drop, genotyping females should become increasingly popular to capture extra value.”
Herds with a superior genetic profile have a fundamental advantage over other herds, and in many cases will outperform their contemporaries over their lifetime, Felix added.
“The use of GE-EPDs on the bull side and genomic testing on the heifer side are critical,” she said. “Using good selection techniques will allow producers to choose and develop the right replacement heifers and consistently mate them to complementary sires to optimize profitability.”
And that’s the hang-up, Donsbach said—finding ways to translate the information generated by genomics testing into tangible use by cattle producers. She likens it to hiring a CPA who knows the thousands of provisions in the tax codes to help manage taxes.
That “need” led Donsbach to start her own enterprise, Data Genie LLC. in 2015. She created the company following a stint at Neogen, where she served as a strategic account manager. Today, through collaborations with partners such as Allied Genetic Resources, she continues to champion adoption of genomic tools, precision mating, and data-driven management to accelerate genetic progress and profitability.
“Genomics was coming on the scene for precision mating and we wanted to begin using the concept to help commercial cattle producers,” she explained. And Donsbach’s job is to understand genetic evaluations inside and out, regardless of the breed.
Donsbach described genomic testing as buying a pickup. “You can get the base model, then you can start adding bells and whistles, depending on what you want and what you can afford.”
She used “stayability,” or functional longevity (FL) as defined by the Angus breed, as an example of a trait that can be enhanced through genomic analysis. The FL EPD predicts the number of calves a sire’s daughter is expected to produce by six years of age compared to other sires in the population.
“If stayability is really important to you as a cow-calf producer, we can select for females that really do stay in the herd and are optimal for the environment,” she said.
Genomics analysis permits better accuracy for younger animals and allows a clear picture of several genetic traits of interest, added Felix, especially those that are expensive to measure, such as feed efficiency, carcass traits in breeding stock, reproductive traits, or maternal traits in bulls.
Genomic evaluations can also be used to avoid inbreeding depression in cattle. This reduction in phenotypic performance—such as fertility, growth, and health—results from the mating of related individuals. Donsbach said genomics has revolutionized how inbreeding depression is studied by providing more accurate measurements than traditional pedigrees.
And Zoetis Inc. recently announced the launch of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) genetic predictions in INHERIT® Select for commercial cow-calf operations. This test is an upgrade to its INHERIT Connect test for seedstock.
“This is a breakthrough for the beef industry,” said Brett Bristol, head of Zoetis Precision Animal Health. “For the first time, producers can make selection and breeding decisions based on GEPDs for BRD health and survival in addition to production traits.”
Bristol said that long term these types of innovations are expected to have meaningful economic impacts on commercial cow-calf producers and downstream to backgrounders and feeders.
Penn State’s Felix advised producers to keep in mind that with all these benefits, genomically enhancing the EPDs does not change how the EPD can be used; it just increases its accuracy.
“When a producer buys a young bull that has GE-EPDs, he’s buying with the same level of confidence in that animal as one that has already sired between 10 and 36 calves, depending on the trait,” Felix said. “In this way, GE-EPDs increase accuracy in those animals much earlier in their lives.”
Going back to her “prom king/prom queen” scenario, Donsbach points to the basics—sometimes there are things going on underneath the hide in gene combinations that, with genomics producers, have the ability to evaluate and from which to make more informed mating decisions.
“If you’re someone who’s keeping replacements, we can rank them in order of maternal genomic merit,” she said. “Genomics can help you with heifer selection— help to produce those heifers of your dreams with more consistency.”
And it can help on the sire side by choosing bulls that are truly complementary to a herd’s females while avoiding those “wasted matings”—and avoid that sick feeling when a buyer eyeballs a set of calves and asks, “Where did those calves come from?”
Donsbach recognizes that there are still ranchers who say EPDs don’t work, and she respects their opinion.
“But I would say that EPD’s overall have done what they were intended to do, which is give us more insight into the average predicted value of that animal’s offspring,” she said. “And genomics takes us a step further—a big step further.”
datageniellc.com 