Interbull Routine Genetic Evaluation for Female Fertility Traits
April 2012
Introduction
The latest test international evaluation for females fertility traits took place
as scheduled at the Interbull Centre. Data from seventeen (18) countries were included in this evaluation.
International genetic evaluations for female fertility traits of bulls from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States of America were computed.
Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Holstein, Jersey, Red Dairy Cattle and Simmental breed data were included in this
evaluation.
Based on a decision made by Interbull Steering committee in August 2007, female
fertility traits are classified as follows:
| T1 | (HC): | Maiden (H)eifer's ability to (C)onceive. A measure of confirmed conception, such as conception rate (CR), will be considered for this trait group. In the absence of confirmed conception an alternative measure, such as interval first-last insemination (FL), interval first insemination-conception (FC), number of inseminations (NI), or non-return rate (NR,preferably NR56) can be submitted; |
| T2 | (CR): | Lactating (C)ow's ability to (R)ecycle after calving. The interval calving-first insemination (CF) is an example for this ability. In the abscence of such a trait, a measure of the interval calving-conception, such as says oprn (DO) or calving interval (CI) can be submitted; |
| T3 | (C1): | Lactating (C)ow's ability to conceive (1), expressed as a rate trait. Traits like conception rate (CR) and non-return rate (NR, preferably NR56) will be considered for this trait group; |
| T4 | (C2): | Lactating (C)ow's ability to conceive (2), expressed as an interval trait. The interval first insemination-conception (FC) or interval first-last insemination (FL) will be considered for this trait group. As an alternative, number of inseminations (NI) can be submitted. In the abscence of any of these traits, a measure of interval calving-conception such as days open (DO), or calving interval (CI) can be submitted. All countries are expected to submit data for this trait group, and as a last resort the trait submitted under T3 can be submitted for T4 as well. |
| T5 | (IT): | Lactating cow's measurements of (I)nterval (T)raits calving-conception, such as days open (DO) and calving interval (CI). |
Based on the above trait definitions the following traits have been submitted for international genetic evaluation of female fertility traits.
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| Country | Traits | Submitted traits and their definitions |
| BEL | T2=CY | PR=Pregnancy Rate (=[21/(DO-45+11)]*100, with DO=days open) |
| T4=C2 | PR=Pregnancy Rate (=[21/(DO-45+11)]*100, with DO=days open) | |
| T5=IT | PR=Pregnancy Rate (=[21/(DO-45+11)]*100, with DO=days open) | |
| CAN | T1=HC | NR=Non Return Rate after 56 Days in heifers (NRR), % |
| T2=CY | CF=Interval from Calving to First Service in cows(CF) | |
| T3=C1 | NR=Non Return Rate after 56 Days in cows(NRR), % | |
| T4=C2 | FC=Interval first insemination-conception in cows | |
| T5=IT | DO=Days open | |
| CHE | T2=CR | CF=Interval from Calving to First Service (ICF), days |
| T3=C1 | NR=Non Return Rate after 56 Days (NRR), % | |
| T4=C2 | NR=Non Return Rate after 56 Days (NRR), % | |
| CHR | T2=CR | CF=Interval from Calving to First Service (ICF), days |
| T3=C1 | NR=Non Return Rate after 56 Days (NRR), % | |
| T4=C2 | NR=Cows' Non Return Rate after 56 Days (NRR), binary | |
| CZE | T1=HC | CR=Heifers' Conception rate (pregnant or not after 3 months) |
| T3=C1 | CR=Cows' Conception rate (pregnant or not after 3 months) | |
| T4=C2 | CR=Cows' Conception rate (pregnant or not after 3 months) | |
| AUS/DEU | T1=HC | NR=Heifers' Non Return Rate after 56 days |
| T2=CY | CF=Interval from calving to first insemination cows (days) | |
| T3=C1 | NR=Cows' Non Return Rate after 56 days | |
| T4=C2 | FL=Interval from first to last insemination cows (days) | |
| T5=IT | DO=Days open (days) | |
| DFS | T1=HC | NR=Heifers' Non Return Rate after 56 days |
| T2=CY | CF=Interval from calving to first insemination cows (days) | |
| T3=C1 | NR=Cows' Non Return Rate after 56 days | |
| T4=C2 | FL=Interval from first to last insemination cows (days) | |
| T5=IT | DO=Days open (days) | |
| ESP | T2=CY | DO=Days open |
| T4=C2 | DO=Days open | |
| T5=IT | DO=Days open | |
| FRA | T1=HC | CR=Heifers' Conception rate (binary trait) for maiden heifers |
| T3=C1 | CR=Cows' Conception rate (binary trait) for cows | |
| T4=C2 | CR=Cows' Conception rate (binary trait) for cows | |
| GBR | T2=CY | CI=days between 1st and 2nd calvings |
| T3=C1 | NR=1st lactation non return at 56 days | |
| T4=C2 | CI=days between 1st and 2nd calvings | |
| T5=IT | CI=days between 1st and 2nd calvings | |
| IRL | T2=CY | CI=Calving interval |
| T4=C2 | CI=Calving interval | |
| T5=IT | CI=Calving interval | |
| ISR | T3=C1 | CR=Inverse of the number of insemination to conception (%) |
| T4=C2 | CR=Inverse of the number of insemination to conception (%) | |
| ITA | T2=CY | CF=Days to first service |
| T3=C1 | NR=Non-return rate at 56 days (%) | |
| T4=C2 | CI=Calving Interval (days) | |
| T5=IT | CI=Calving interval (days) | |
| NLD | T2=CY | CF=Interval calving to first insemination (days) |
| T3=C1 | NR=Non-return rate 56 days (binary trait) | |
| T5=C2 | CI=Calving Interval (days) | |
| T5=IT | CI=Calving Interval (days) | |
| NOR | T1=HC | NR=NR=Non-return rate 56 days (heifers) |
| T2=CY | CF=Interval calving to first insemination (days) | |
| T3=C1 | NR=NR=Non-return rate 56 days (cows) | |
| T4=C2 | CI=Calving Interval (days) | |
| T5=IT | CI=Calving Interval (days) | |
| NZL | T2=CY | PM=Lactating cow's ability to start cycling |
| T4=C2 | PC=Lactating cow's ability to conceive (CR42) | |
| T5=IT | PC=Lactating cow's ability to conceive (CR42) | |
| POL | T1=HC | Non return rate at 56 days for heifer |
| T2=CR | Interval from calving to first insemination | |
| T3=C1 | Non return rate at 56 days for cows | |
| T4=IT | Days open | |
| T5=IT | Days open | |
| USA | T1=HC | CR=Conception rate (heifer) |
| T2=CY | DP=Daughter Pregnancy Rate | |
| T3=C1 | CR=Conception rate (cow) | |
| T4=C2 | DP=Daughter Pregnancy Rate | |
| T5=IT | DP=Daughter Pregnancy Rate | |
Changes in national procedures
| ZAF | (JER) : | included more indicator traits and estimated new variance components |
| IRL | (HOL) : | Sent calving interval as T2 & T4 in place of calving to first service and number of ins |
| DEU | (BSW) : | Change in data preparation |
| ITA | (HOL) : | Update of genetic base |
| CAN | (ALL) : | Base change |
| BEL | (HOL) : | Herd identification was further improved. Herds keep their identity even if owner changes. This leads to a slight decrease in the number of herds for some bulls. Bulls with evaluation changing from being official to unofficial:Most of the bulls are not missing but appearing with a different id. |
CHANGES COMPARED TO THE DECEMBER ROUTINE RUN WITH S-MGS PEDIGREE:
Interbull has since the beginning been using sire-MGS relationships for International genetic evaluations of dairy bulls. It is,
however, well known that International genetic evaluations are sensitive to genetic groups. It has
therefore been suggested to include bull dams in the pedigree in order to move genetic groups further away from animals with
data.
Along with the change of evaluation workflow the complete system has been streamlined and prepared for a future use of proofs and parameters
uploaded to the database. Also, the new system is not using the submitted standardization factors but does an internal standardization
based on the raw mean and standard deviations in the edited proof files.
The solver that has been in use so far has been using direct inversion. However, the dramatic increase in the size of the MME caused by
including females in the evaluation rendered the use of direct inversion for the evaluation
of Holsteins infeasible.
The solver has therefore been replaced by an iterative solver using PCG. For the current test run all analyses were performed by the streamlined
package where changes mentioned above were implemented.
Both correlation estimation and breeding value predictions are now moved from a 32-bit server to a 64-bit server and also the Fortran compilor
has changed from Absoft to Gfortran.
Data and method of analysis
Data were national genetic evaluations of AI sampled bulls with at least
10 daughters or 10 EDC (for clinical mastitis and maternal calving traits at least
50 daughters or 50 EDC, and for direct calving traits at least 50 calvings or 50 EDC) in at
least 10 herds. Table 1 presents the amount of data included in this Interbull evaluation for all breeds.
National proofs were first de-regressed within country and then analysed jointly with a linear model including the effects of evaluation country,
genetic group of bull and bull merit. Heritability estimates used in both the de-regression and international evaluation were as in each country's
national evaluation.
Table 2 presents the date of evaluation as supplied by each country in the 01x-proof file.
Estimated genetic parameters and sire standard deviations are shown in APPENDIX I
and the corresponding number of common bulls are listed in APPENDIX
II.
Scientific literature
The international genetic evaluation procedure is based on international work described in the following scientific publications:
International genetic evaluation computation:
Schaeffer. 1994. J. Dairy Sci. 77:2671-2678
Klei, 1998. Interbull Bulletin 17:3-7
Verification and Genetic trend validation:
Klei et al., 2002. Interbull Bulletin 29:178-182.
Boichard et al., 1995. J. Dairy Sci. 78:431-437
Weighting factors:
Fikse and Banos, 2001. J. Dairy Sci. 84:1759-1767
De-regression:
Sigurdsson and G. Banos. 1995. Acta Agric. Scand. 45:207-219
Jairath et al. 1998. J. Dairy Sci. Vol. 81:550-562
Genetic parameter estimation:
Klei and Weigel, 1998, Interbull Bulletin 17:8-14
Sullivan, 1999. Interbull Bulletin 22:146-148
Post-processing of estimated genetic correlations:
Mark et al., 2003, Interbull Bulletin 30:126-135
Jorjani et al., 2003. J. Dairy Sci. 86:677-679
Genetic correlation estimation procedure
Time edits
Weigel and Banos. 1997. J. Dairy Sci. 80:3425-3430
International reliability estimation
Harris and Johnson. 1998. Interbull Bulletin 17:31-36
Next routine international evaluation
The next routine evaluation of Interbull for production, conformation, udder health, longevity, calving, female fertility and workability traits is scheduled for August 2012. Deadline for sending data to the Interbull Centre is Tuesday July 31, 2012, 17:00 CET; confidential distribution of results is targeted for Thursday August 9, 2012, with earliest possible official release of results on August 14, 2012.
Next test international evaluation
The next test run for production, conformation, udder health, longevity,
calving, female fertility and workability traits will take place in September 2012.
Countries planning to introduce changes in their national evaluation procedures and wishing to have them included in the routine Interbull evaluation, should
have their data examined in this test run. New data and validation results should be sent to the Interbull Centre no later than September 4, 2012, 17:00
CET.
For more information about the international genetic evaluation service please contact the Interbull Centre: address: SLU Box 7023, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden; fax: +46-18-672648;
| e-mail: | Phone | ||
| Joao.Durr_at_hgen.slu.se | : | +46-18-671994 | |
| Flavio.Forabosco_at_hgen.slu.se | +46-18-671974 | ||
| Jette.Jakobsen_at_hgen.slu.se | +46-18-671955 | ||
| Eva.Hjerpe_at_hgen.slu.se | +46-18-672438 | ||
| Hossein.Jorjani_at_hgen.slu.se | +46-18-671964 | ||
| Valentina.Palucci_at_hgen.slu.se | +46-18-671987 | ||
| Anne.Loberg_at_hgen.slu.se | +46-18-671975 | ||
| Jan.Philipsson_at_hgen.slu.se | +46-18-671976 | ||
| Dan.Englund_at_hgen.slu.se | +46-18-671968 |
For all communication regarding Interbull services, please use: interbull@hgen.slu.se