A new DNA tool will make an appearance at the Cow-Forage Gentec Tour at the Lacombe Research Center, August 22.

The tool, called Invigor HX, is like Ancestry.com for your cow-calf operation. Invigor measures the heritage, breed composition, and degree of hybrid vigor of a beef animal.

Clinton Brons, Director of Business Development with Livestock Gentec out of the University of Alberta, says the wider the genetic dispersion, the better the cow performs on pasture.

"If you compare a low vigor herd to a high vigor herd, by increasing the vigor in a low vigor herd, you can increase the profitability of a cow-calf producer in the magnitude of $100 per cow, per year. If you look at the upper end of the benefit, it goes as high as even $190 per cow, per year."

Brons says, the tool has some deep roots in Alberta.

"The technology for Invigor is something which has come out of a project funded by Genome Alberta, in cow herds in Alberta, with researchers out of the Lacombe Research Station, Alberta Agriculture, and Livestock Gentec."

The tool was launched February 7, 2017, and is an economically feasible payback for your herd.

For more information on the Gentec Tour, you can visit their website.