2.1.4 Evaluation of results

Seventh, the breeding program should be evaluated regularly (7). The first question is: did we reach what we wanted? Is the new generation of animals better with respect to the breeding goal traits? Do we observe unwanted effects of selection? E.g. we realized a better growth of our meat producing animals, but they have more problems with their legs than their parents. The second question is: what has happened with the relatedness among the animals of the new generation. Are they more related to each other than their parents, due to the fact that we have selected only a few heavily related animals as parents for this generation? Did we decrease the genetic diversity of the population?

Then, the breeding circle starts again with a critical review of changes in the production system. Questions to be answered are: do market requirements change, e.g. for pork of a different quality? Will production circumstances change due to new environmental requirements for milk production farms?