Is There Any Way to Reduce Crossbreeding Variation?
Cundiff and Gregory (1999) presented an excellent summary of the effectiveness of various crossbreeding systems in terms of heterosis utilization, use of breed complementarity, and consistency of production in 1994. In that presentation, the most effective system at doing all three things simultaneously, along with being the easiest to manage effectively, was composite breeding. The theory behind composites has been amply proven by the Germ Plasm Utilization Project at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center under the leadership and guidance of Keith Gregory. The published summary (Gregory et al., 1995) of that work proves that composite breeding offers a usable solution to many of the problems we are discussing here. Heterosis utilization is high, breed percentages are fixed and do not vary between generations, and breed differences can be utilized to match breed strengths and weaknesses to the production and marketing environment. The ability to overcome genetic antagonisms and still re
