My name is Michel Georges, I am a veterinary surgeon by training.
The team I work with,
mainly works on livestock genetics
and on our favourite animal: the Belgian Blue.
As an expert in research on the Belgian Blue, can you give us a brief history of the development of this breed?
The Belgian Blue is a breed that has existed, so to speak, for hundreds of years in central and upper Belgium.
The name was attributed at the beginning of the 20th century.
At the time, like many cattle breeds in Europe and across the world, it was a dual purpose breed.
Farmers reared it as a source of both milk and meat, if not as an energy provider and working resource.
And then 1950s and 60s saw selection in favour of animals in the breed with greater muscle development than average.
This was a kind of hobby among Belgian farmers, not just in cattle but also in other species such as pork – think of Piétrain pork – and even poultry.
There was a sort of infatuation in Belgium for selecting animals with a high level of muscle development.
A phenotype among global cattle breeds was described and generally referred to as "double-muscled".
In some breeds this was considered a disadvantage, it was a relatively rare phenotype
which attracted attention, inspired curiosity and in some breeds was considered a problem due to the dystocia that results.
Calving was problematic, difficult, but in France, Spain, Italy and here in Belgium,
there were a number of people who were interested in view of the increase in meat yield.
What in the end is the specific characteristic of the Belgian Blue breed?
The most obvious characteristic of the Belgian Blue today is clearly its extraordinary muscle development
which came about progressively through generation after generation of farmers selecting,
as bulls and cows, animals which met their expectations and wishes and which had the greatest muscle development of their generation.
One thing led to another and animals developed quite naturally and spontaneously,
progressively acquiring this muscle development that characterises them.
Muscle weight can be increased by 35% compared with standard animals from other breeds.
Another characteristic is what are known as the organoleptic properties of the meat which are prized by consumers.
It is a meat that remains very tender and contains very little fat.
It can be seen as healthy in the current climate
where consumers are concerned about the effects of what they eat on their health.
Belgian Blues are good animals; they are especially calm and easy to handle.
What is it that makes the Belgian Blue easy to crossbreed with other animals worldwide?
Another very important aspect,
which will perhaps be the main characteristic or contribution of the Belgian Blue in the future,
is its capacity to increase meat production through crossbreeding.
A significant proportion of the world's livestock is reared mainly for dairy purposes.
The development of selection in the case of dairy cattle, as with beef cattle,
has been extreme and produced animals you will be familiar with
such as Holsteins and Jerseys, which are highly specialised for milk production
and have a most disappointing meat yield,
such that the value of their carcasses is almost a disadvantage for these breeds.
The direction in which dairy farming inter alia is heading
is towards using at least a certain percentage of the progeny in crossbreeding
with beef breeds in order to increase the value of the carcasses of some of the calves
since the sire "is not from the dairy breed" and contributes valuable beef properties.
In crossbreeding with dairy cows, the value of the calves was compared using bulls from all possible beef breeds imaginable.
The Belgian Blue came out far better than any other breed.
Its muscle development is such
that it has a greater impact in crossbreeding
than any other beef breed.
We are seeing an entirely spontaneous demand from farmers globally
who want Belgian Blue bulls, Belgian Blue bull semen
in order to increase the profitability of their work, their livestock and their business,
coupled with the fact that when these bulls are used in crossbreeding
and when the Belgian Blue bulls used for crossbreeding are selected appropriately
all reproduction problems that may occur with the pure breed almost completely disappear.
Using a Belgian Blue bull rather than a bull from another beef breed
does not produce any greater dystocia problems in crossbreeding.
The Belgian Blue is receiving much attention in terms of research,
has a promising future in the context of the research you are conducting
and also shows itself to be a modern breed.
In addition to the fact that the muscle development of crossbred Belgian Blue calves is very marked,
one of the other advantages is that it is homogenous compared with other breeds.
This is due to the fact that,
given this tradition of selection for muscle development in the pure bred Belgian Blue,
the double-muscle allele, this myostatin allele is responsible
for the homozygous nature of the double-muscle characteristics found in the Belgian Blue.
As this is the case for both genes of all Belgian Blue animals,
from the mother and the father if you like,
this means that without exception all crossbred calves receive a copy of this double-muscle allele.
In this respect, the Belgian Blue is exceptional and is probably one of the only,
if not the only breed where this genetic property can be guaranteed in the progeny.
All calves crossbred with Belgian Blue bulls have this major advance in muscle development,
which can be attributed to the fact that these calves are guaranteed
to inherit a copy of the double-muscle allele.
Today's Belgian Blue is decidedly superior to the Belgian Blue of the 1980s,
due not just to this effect from a copy of the myostatin allele
responsible for the double-muscle characteristic in homozygotes,
but is also the result of all the efforts made by farmers since the 1980s
in selecting polygenically a whole series of genes
which individually have small effects on muscle development
but cumulatively have almost doubled muscle development since the 1980s.
In crossbreeding, half of this collection of what are known as polygenes
with an effect on muscle development are passed on
and these together with the double-muscle gene contribute to the quality of the crossbred calves.
Moreover this is homogenous,
i.e. there is no great variation between calves crossbred in this way;
they all benefit from a significant, uniform advantage
in terms of muscle development.
How do you see the Belgian Blue of tomorrow?
I am reassured by the fact that in order to express the full potential of these genetic traits,
an animal cannot be under permanent stress,
as this will have a direct impact on the way in which it expresses these genetic traits.
I think that, in an international context, the future of the Belgian Blue lies in crossbreeding
which avoids almost all criticism in relation to animal welfare.
I think that what will ultimately help the Belgian Blue breed
is that with today's growing world population,
there is now, and I imagine will be for several decades,
an ever-increasing demand for proteins of animal origin.
What becomes critical is the efficiency of feed conversion.
The Belgian Blue is the champion of champions to a certain extent,
though it is always a bit more complicated than that.
But it is nevertheless a machine for converting vegetable matter feed
into animal protein with unparalleled efficiency.
The argument to be made at a global level that this breed and its genetics
truly have something positive to contribute globally
is namely the fact that it is a hyper efficient machine for producing animal proteins.
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