The University of New England’s Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit has helped lift Australian beef cattle and sheep production by gains estimated to be worth more than $17 billion. Now the Armidale unit is turning 50.
Known as AGBU, the unit was founded at UNE in 1976. It has become essential, if largely hidden, infrastructure for Australian livestock breeding.
The figures show why. Each cow mated is now worth around $170 more thanks to cumulative improvements in fertility, growth, and carcase traits. In the wool and lamb sectors, genetic gain is now 1.7 times what it was from 2000 to 2010.
“AGBU was set up to research genetic improvement on behalf of the Australian livestock industries, and that’s still what we do,” stated AGBU Director Dr Steve Miller.
“But a lot has changed over 50 years, and those changes mostly relate to scale.”
“We have shifted from working with a handful of traits to hundreds; from analysing tens of thousands of data points to trillions; and from using megabytes of data to terabytes.”
“That’s meant a lot of additional complexity, but also enormously enhanced our capability.”
The unit’s current work includes single-step genetic analysis with Meat and Livestock Australia, and flystrike genomics research with Australian Wool Innovation. It is also expanding into poultry, aquaculture, forestry, field crops, and honeybee genetics.
The celebrations run from Monday, 12 October to Wednesday, 14 October at UNE, with a birthday party, symposium, and workshop. Tickets are available until Monday, 5 October.
The events include an auction to raise money for Project Cygnet. The philanthropic fund was set up in 2026 by the family, colleagues, and friends of the late Professor Andrew Swan, AGBU’s former Chief Scientist. It aims to develop young scientific talent working in animal breeding research.
“He consistently demonstrated his values by prioritising industry-wide impact over personal academic acclaim,” stated AGBU Deputy Director Dr Kim Bunter.
Items going under the hammer include a Rennylea heifer, private conversation time with AGBU scientists, wine, and holidays.
Details on the celebrations and tickets are at https://agbu.une.edu.au/agbu50celebrate.html.
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