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Usefulness of International Dairy Bull Evaluations

Learn about the usefulness of international dairy bull evaluations in breeding programs and the impact on genetic progress. Discover Interbull milestones, evaluation process, and the importance of reliability in selecting top bulls.

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Usefulness of International Dairy Bull Evaluations

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  1. Usefulness of International Dairy Bull Evaluations Rex L. Powell Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD rpowell@aipl.arsusda.gov http://aipl.arsusda.gov

  2. Breeding-program Bull Choices • Farm bulls (natural service) • Young AI progeny-test bulls • Proven AI bulls (domestic) • Proven AI bulls (international)

  3. Numbers of U.S. Progeny-tested Bulls

  4. Interbull Milestones • 1983 - Interbull formed • 1988 - Became an ICAR committee • 1991 - Centre established • 1994 - First international service

  5. Interbull Centre • Site: Uppsala, Sweden • Responsibilities and activities: • Steering committee sets policy • General operations by staff • Global service provider

  6. Interbull Evaluation Process • National evaluations sent to Centre • MACE combines pedigree and national evaluation data • Estimated genetic correlations applied • Evaluations returned to countries on their own scale • Officiality responsibility of countries

  7. 25 20 15 10 5 0 Feb-99 Aug-94 Aug-95 Aug-99 Aug-96 Aug-97 Aug-98 Countries Participating in Service Sending Receiving No. countries Evaluation date

  8. Numbers of Countries per Bull 100 62,259 80 60 Percentage of Bulls 40 20 3048 578 238 159 114 67 45 33 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9+ Number of countries

  9. Sources of Top 100 Bulls for Milk by Country of Scale

  10. Sources of Top 100 Bulls for Protein by Country of Scale

  11. Use of Reliability • Measure of accuracy • Guides how much to use a bull, not whether to use a bull • Minimum restricts the number of bulls • Limiting bulls limits progress

  12. Websites • interbull.org • Publications & bulletins • Evaluation summaries • aipl.arsusda.gov • Documents • Downloadable files • Access to all evaluations

  13. Conclusions • Interbull service is growing (countries, breeds, traits) • Rankings differ by country & traits • Most gain is from considering all bulls on one scale

  14. Impact of Minimum REL On Number of Bulls & Mean EBVM of Top 50 (USA) Source: Interbull, February 2002

  15. Young Bull (PA Milk = +1000, REL = 36%) True TA milk is within ±480 pounds of estimated PTA two thirds of the time -920 -440 40 520 1000 1480 1960 2440 2920 PTA milk (pounds)

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