U.S. GENETIC EVALUATIONS

KNOW THE TRAITS THAT PAY!

Higher fertility, longevity, easier calving, more live calves and better milk quality each have an economic value.

PRODUCTIVE LIFE (PL) – Predicts the number of months above or below breed average that a bull’s daughters will be in production in the herd. Credits for months of productive life are based upon standard lactation curves, with highest credits at the peak of lactation and diminishing credits across the lactation. Credit is now given for days beyond 305 days in a lactation. The standard is set such that a second lactation cow with 305 days in milk gets 10 months credit. First lactation gets less credit than later lactations. The heritability of PL is 8.5%.

LIVABILITY (LIV) – is a prediction of a cow’s ability to remain alive while in the milking herd. It is economically important that cows remain alive, productive and not requiring another cow to replace her. Livability is expressed as a probability value of a lactation not ending in death or on-farm euthanasia. For example, in an average herd where 80% of the cows do not die on the farm, a bull with a LIV of +3.0, means that you would expect 83% of his daughters to remain alive until it is time for them to leave the farm, contrasted with a bull with a LIV of -3.0, for which you would expect 77% of his daughters to leave the farm alive.

SOMATIC CELL SCORE (SCS) – a linear measurement of a milking daughter’s somatic cells in milk that is typically indicative of a mastitis infection. Lower proof values indicating greater resistance to mastitis incidence.

NET MERIT (NM$) is a lifetime profitability index taking into account a variety of Production, Health & Fitness and Conformation traits. The index calculation is revised regularly to reflect progress in identifying and evaluating traits that affect a farm’s bottom line. Including high ranking Net Merit sires in your breeding program will enhance genetic progress and improve profitability. Selecting for Net Merit leads to long-lasting, fertile and healthy cows with correct udders and feet & legs that produce milk efficiently.

CHEESE MERIT (CM$) – like Net Merit, is a lifetime profitability index but targeting herds selling into the cheese market that require more component concentrated milk.

DAIRY WELLNESS PROFIT INDEX (DWP$®) – a multi-trait selection index that includes production, fertility, type, longevity, and the wellness traits, with unique formulas used for Holsteins and Jerseys.

HERD HEALTH PROFIT INDEX (HHP$™) – a SSI/WWS proprietary index, using Claified Plus Wellness Traits, that is designed to produce cows that are productive and built to last and intended for use in herds that do not have access to DWP$ or Clarifide Plus evaluations.

RESIDUAL FEED INTAKE (RFI) – is a measure of feed efficiency and is defined as the difference between an animal’s actual feed intake and its expected feed intake based on its size and growth compared to the breed average base. RFI is independent of the level of production. The lower the RFI value, the more efficient the animal is.

DAUGHTER PREGNANCY RATE (DPR) – estimates cow fertility and is highly correlated with PL. A DPR of 1.0 equates to a 1% increase in pregnancy rate during a given 21-day oestrus cycle. Each increase of 1% in PTA DPR equals a decrease of 4 days in PTA days open; e.g. daughters of a bull with +4.0 DPR will get in calf on average 16 days quicker than a bull with a DPR of 0.

SIRE CONCEPTION RATE (SCR) – this is not a genetic trait, but measures the fertility of the bull. An SCR of 1.0 indicates a 1% increase in conception rate when compared to average. Values with an * before the SCR score are from a previous data set date.

FERTILITY INDEX (FI) – The Fertility Index combines several reproductive components into one overall index: ability to conceive as a maiden heifer, ability to conceive as a lactating cow, and a cow’s overall ability to start cycling again, show heat, conceive, and maintain a pregnancy. FI = 70% DPR + 10% CCR + 10% HCR + 10% EFC.

COW CONCEPTION RATE (CCR) – Lactating cow’s ability to conceive defined as a percentage of inseminated cows that become pregnant at each service; a CCR of 1 implies that daughters of this bull are 1% more likely to conceive when inseminated than daughters of a bull with an evaluation of 0.

HEIFER CONCEPTION RATE (HCR)– Maiden heifer’s ability to conceive defined as a percentage of inseminated heifers that become pregnant at each service; an HCR of 1 implies that daughters of this bull are 1% more likely to conceive when inseminated as a heifer than daughters of a bull with an evaluation of 0.

SIRE CALVING EASE (SCE) – this is the estimate of the Percentage of Difficult Births in Heifers when they calve the first time. Each standard deviation in improvement equates to a 1% decrease in difficulty. The average for AI bulls with progeny is 2.3%.

DAUGHTER CALVING EASE (DCE) – measures the ability of a cow to calve easily. Each standard deviation in improvement equates to a 1% decrease in difficulty. Low Daughter Calving Ease is highly correlated with a long Productive Life.

GESTATION LENGTH – represents the influence the service sire is expected to have on the number of days his mates carry their calves during their pregnancies. Females bred to a Holstein bull with a GL PTA of +4 days are expected to carry their calves about 281 days, or four days longer than the breed average (277 days).

What is PTA? Predicted Transmitting Ability is the predicted difference of a parent animal’s offspring from average, due to the genes transmitted from that parent. Each PTA is given in the units used to measure the trait. The PTA for milk, fat and protein is reported in pounds; the PTA for productive life is reported in months. The reliability figure is a reflection of the number of daughters that have contributed to the bull’s proof and their distribution across herds.

PTAT – PTA Type (PTAT) or conformation improvement expected from a bull’s daughters compared to contemporaries.

UDDER COMPOSITE (UDC) – the weightings on the individual traits comprising the Udder Composite Index are derived from continued research by the Holstein Association USA on herd life.

FOOT & LEG COMPOSITE (FLC) – Selecting animals that transmit superior mobility, steeper foot angle, wider rear leg stance with little or no hock-in will result in animals capable of longer productive life. Legs side view was added to the formula in April 2020.

TPI® is the US Holstein Association’s multi trait index that ranks bulls on overall performance. TPI places significantly more emphasis on type traits than the Net Merit formula, comparable averages for Fat and Protein production and slightly lower averages for health traits. Weighting of major categories: 46% Production, 28% Health & Fertility, 26% Conformation.

JPI™ is the American Jersey Cattle Associations method of ranking bulls on overall performance. The weightings are as follows Protein 27%, Fat 19%, Milk Density 3%, Udder 9.2%, Body 10%, Feet & Legs 0.2%, DPR 9%, CCR 3.5%, HCR 2%, SCS 4.5%, PL 5%, Livability 3%, Health Traits 4.6% (Mastitis, Milk Fever or Hypocalcemia, Displaced Abomasum, Ketosis, Metritis and Retained Placenta).

BCS (BODY CONDITION SCORE) – The availability of bull proofs for Body Condition Score allows for selection to raise the average BCS at first calving and when they are in peak production. This selection goal is expected to improve fertility, reduce the incidence of disease and lead to a longer productive life.. U.S. PROTEIN RECORDS – Most U.S. farmers are paid for true protein rather than crude protein. To be consistent with milk purchasers, the U.S. milkrecording system switched from measuring crude protein in milk to true protein in 2000. Only the USA, Australia, France and Hungary measure true protein, all other Interbull countries still measure crude protein. True protein is a measure of only the proteins in milk, whereas crude protein is a measure of all sources of nitrogen and includes non-protein nitrogen, such as urea, which has no food value to humans. This non-protein nitrogen is a waste product when making cheese and other manufactured products. The percentage of milk that is true protein is lower than the percentage that is crude protein by an approximate difference of 0.19%.

CDCB DHI national averages for cows calving in 2020 with records used in national genetic evaluations

The Range Slider Graphs depict selected traits of a bull in relation to the active bull population. Proven bulls are compared to all active Proven bulls, and Genomic bulls are compared to all active Genomic bulls in the reference population. With the left value being the lowest in the breed and the right value the highest. The trait being shown is listed above the slider graph with the bull’s PTA score for the particular trait, e.g., Productive Life +7.6. The red slider shows the bull’s PTA for that particular trait in relation to the breed.