Interbull Routine Genetic Evaluation for Female Fertility Traits
April 2014
Introduction
The latest routine 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 Australia, 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 |
| AUS | T2=CY | Calving interval converted to 42 days pregnancy rate |
| T4=C2 | Calving interval converted to 42 days pregnancy rate | |
| T5=IT | Calving interval converted to 42 days pregnancy rate | |
| 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 |
| T2=CY | Interval between calving and first AI | |
| 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) | |
| ITA(BSW) | T2=CY | CF=Interval calving to first insemination |
| T4=C2 | Days Open | |
| T5=IT | CI=Calving interval | |
| 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
| ITA | data over a 15-year period is used. It means that at the beginning of each year 1 year of data is lost. Some bulls (especially born before 1990) can change their STATUS because some daughters have been eliminated. Because of the same reason, some bulls can change/reduce EDCs. Base change has been applied for this year. | |
| AUS | changed in genetic base by moving one year ahead. The base constitutes of bulls born between 2000 and 2004. | |
| ITA | (BSW): | Some sire have lost some daughters for the wrong parentage verification. |
| SVN | Change in base definition; some bulls Changed from Official to unofficial | |
| BEL | Herd identification was further improved. Pedigree corrections were made. | |
| FRA | some bulls with a decrease in number of herds/daughters/edc | |
| JPN | Some pedigree pedigree corrections, number of daughters/herds/EDC decreased for some bulls. |
INTERBULL CHANGES COMPARED TO THE DECEMBER ROUTINE RUN
| 1) | Data submission for pedigree, EBV/PTA, and parameters is possible only through uploading of the data to the Interbull Data Exchange Area (IDEA); | |
| 2) | Interbull Centre has moved to a completely new MACE evaluation software called "Dairy System for International Evaluation (DAISIE)", partly because of the extended use of IDEA for EBV/PTA, and partly because of our continuous efforts to make the system more effective than before; | |
| 3) | All trait groups (including conformation traits) are now evaluated in-house. | |
| 4) | The file containing heritability values now contain more decimal places for heritability, and one extra field for the definition of reference base population; | |
| 5) | The file containing genetic correlations has changed name from rG_columns_all to cor{RUNID}.csv, and also contains one extra field for the number of common bulls; | |
| 6) | The file containing sire genetic standard deviations has changed name from sire_std_columns_all to std{RUNID}.csv; | |
| 7) | Sire-MGS based pedigree files are not distributed anymore; | |
| 8) | Parent averages in the "ipa" format are not distributed anymore; | |
| 9) | An import AI bull (type of proof = 21) with official publication status 'Y' from a given country is included in the distribution file if the bull has a first country proof included from a different country OR a second country proof is included with minimum required number of daughters or EDC (20, 10, 150, 20, 20, and 80) and herds (20, 10, 150, 20, 20, and 80) for different breeds (BSW, GUE, HOL, JER, RDC and SIM), respectively; | |
| 10) | Bulls with some missing pedigree information (sires and/or dam and/or birthdate) are excluded from evaluations; | |
| 11) | Standardization factors are not used anymore; | |
| 12) | Post-processing of genetic correlation are now applied to all trait groups. |
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.
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
https://wiki.interbull.org/public/rG%20procedure?action=print
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 2014. Deadline for sending data to the Interbull Centre is Tuesday August 22, 2014, 17:00 CET; confidential distribution of results is targeted
for Thursday July 31, 2014, with earliest possible official release of results on August 12, 2014. Please remark the three week turn around time.
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 2014.
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 2, 2014, 17:00
CET.
PUBLICATION OF INTERBULL TEST RUN
Test evaluation results are meant for review purposes only and should not be published.