Chronological summary of changes implemented in USDA-DHIA evaluations (1989–2013)

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2013 || 2012 || 2011 ||2010 || 2009 || 2008 || 2007 || 2006 || 2005 || 2004 || 2003 || 2002 || 2001 || 2000 || 1999 || 1998 || 1997 || 1996 || 1995 || 1994 || 1993 || 1992 || 1991 || 1990 || 1989 || Earlier history

Changes can also be listed by topic

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Evaluation date	Changes in genetic evaluations and editing systems
August 2013	Evaluation system New fertility and stillbirth haplotypes and changes in haplotype status Version 2 of GeneSeek Genomic Profiler chip Foreign and genomic information in parent averages Six digit cow control numbers
May 2013	Evaluation system Release rule changes Additional variables added to XML files Information on GP2 chip
April 2013	Evaluation system Distribution and access to genomic evaluations Use of a new chip with 76,867 markers Ayrshire genomic evaluations Weights used in genomic evaluations Calving-ease format change
December 2012	Evaluation system Correction and adjustment of health trait evaluations and reliabilities PTA for days from calving to first insemination Changes in HH1, HH3, and JH1 status New reproductive status and culling annual reports Automated processing of genotypes
August 2012	Evaluation system Revisions to heifer and cow conception rates Specific cow adjustments by country of evaluation for Holsteins Genomic and pedigree inbreeding match better Mobility for Brown Swiss and additional traits for Milking Shorthorns Additional Brown Swiss genotypes from Interbull Updated Chromosomal PTA Query
April 2012	Evaluation system Adjustments to genomic evaluations and reliabilities Data cutoff date for sire conception rate Productive life field format Sire-dam multitrait across-country evaluation (MACE)
December 2011	Evaluation system Genomic evaluations using 6,909 markers Maternal grandsire detection and discovery
August 2011	Evaluation system Inclusion of British and Italian Holstein genotypes Reporting of haplotypes that affect fertility Changes in marker edits
April 2011	Evaluation system Adjustment of yield evaluations for all cows Improved imputation Chip type and genomic inbreeding in formats 38 and 105 Multitrait heifer and cow conception rates Genomic Reliability Discount
December 2010	Evaluation system Evaluations using 2,900 markers Data sources for sire conception rate evaluations
November 2010	Estimated 2010 Genetic Base Changes for Goats–Production and Type Traits [AIPL Supplemental Report (07-10)]
August 2010	Evaluation system Mexican cow records Validation of genomic evaluations Improvements to imputed dam genotypes Preliminary evaluations using 3,000 markers Conception rate evaluations for males and females
April 2010	Evaluation system Cow adjustments in genomic evaluation of yield traits Haplotypes used for imputing genotypes Breed-specific markers Fertility data Genotypes from Switzerland Improved reliability for genomic evaluations
January 2010	Evaluation system Base change Net merit revision Heifer and cow conception rates Revised genomic evaluation methods Web query to track genotypes AIPL e-mail addresses Net merit (2010 revision)
August 2009	Evaluation system Brown Swiss genomic evaluations Revised marker set used in genomic predictions Blending of genomic and current Interbull evaluations Base change documentation for January 2010
April 2009	Evaluation system Revisions to genomic calculations
January 2009	Evaluation system Genomic evaluations become official Multitrait best prediction Cow and heifer conception rates
August 2008	Evaluation system Service sire conception rate Genetic evaluations for clones More traits of foreign sires used in cow evaluations Reporting genetic recessive codes
April 2008	Evaluation system Genomic prediction
January 2008	Evaluation system New evaluation schedule Interbull fertility evaluations for breeds other than Holstein Interbull evaluations on Milking Shorthorn base Jersey, Brown Swiss, and Guernsey conformation composites
August 2007	Evaluation system Breed composition file for crossbreds Adjustments to all-breed model Parent averages for young bulls Revised definition of Interbull type-of-proof code Editing system Correction of bull identification (ID) numbers with more than nine digits
May 2007	Evaluation system All-breed animal model Genetic trend for daughter pregnancy rate Genetic trends for calving ease and stillbirth Revisions to herd variance adjustment Sample population for expected future inbreeding
February 2007	Evaluation system Fertility evaluations from Interbull Elimination of duplicate evaluations for Red-and-White bulls and related format-38 changes Editing system Consistency in reporting abortions Designation of breedings with sexed semen
November 2006	Evaluation system Holstein stillbirth and Brown Swiss calving ease (CE) from Interbull Ayrshire and Red Dairy Cattle breed codes Series-840 animal ID numbers Additional release of yield evaluations for dairy goats Editing system Eliminating milk-component values when all cows have the same value
August 2006	Evaluation system Productive life (PL) credits revised Stillbirth and calving ability Lifetime net merit revised CE edits
May 2006	Evaluation system Bull fertility evaluation transferred to AIPL Milking speed evaluations for Brown Swiss Rear legs/rear view evaluations for Brown Swiss and Guernseys
February 2006	Evaluation system Daughter pregnancy rate (DPR) for foreign bulls
November 2005	Editing system
August 2005	Editing system
May 2005	Evaluation system CE edits Interbull daughter CE Herd-by-sire interaction variance Evaluation correction
February 2005	Evaluation correction Base change (general documentation) Genetic and phenotypic progress DPR and somatic cell score (SCS) genetic bases CE and PL evaluations Model changes Genetic trend validation Base changes Type traits Goat evaluations CE evaluation changes Herd-by-sire interaction in evaluation models
November 2004	Evaluation system Interbull longevity evaluations Editing system
August 2004	No changes
May 2004	Evaluation system New variances for Jersey and and Brown Swiss type Jersey Interbull type evaluations Editing system
February 2004	Evaluation system Pregnancy rate excludes embryo donors Release of Interbull type evaluations for Ayrshire bulls
November 2003	Evaluation system Earlier evaluation of DPR Fertility and CE in prediction of PL Measure of pedigree completeness
August 2003	Evaluation system Fertility and CE in net merit New variances for Ayrshire type traits Editing system Delivery sysem
May 2003	Evaluation system New variances for type traits Parent averages for net merit and DPR Editing system
February 2003	Evaluation system DPR evaluations introduced Changes in type evaluations for non-Holsteins
November 2002	Evaluation system Release of Interbull type evaluations for Guernsey and Brown Swiss bulls
August 2002	Evaluation system Correlations between PL and yield reduced Sire-maternal grandsire threshold model for CE Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in genetic evaluation of type traits Editing system Delivery sysem
May 2002	No changes
February 2002	Evaluation system PL for embryo donors
November 2001	Evaluation system PL in discontinued herds Editing system
August 2001	Evaluation system Release of Interbull type evaluations for Jersey bulls Early release of bull ID information Early release of official Interbull evaluations Editing system
May 2001	Evaluation system Interbull SCS evaluations Variance adjustments for Jersey type traits Interbull conformation evaluations Officiality rules changed Editing system
February 2001	Evaluation system Delayed release of Interbull files Development of comparison tables Development of new e-mail notification list Editing system
November 2000	Effective number of daughters used in Interbull reliabilities Revised correlations in multitrait PL Heritability increase for Jersey and Brown Swiss 3-character error codes Canadian and American ID checking
August 2000	Base change for production traits Base change for non-Holstein type traits Multitrait PL Lifetime net merit True protein replaced crude protein Foreign bull pedigree added Cross-references generated from cow control number
May 2000	High ranking grade designation corrected First-herd designation corrected Usable-herd designation corrected Reporting of test-day errors Cross-references derived from cow control number
February 2000	Foreign evaluations requested for more cow dams Inbreeding sample included more complete pedigrees Editing improved for test-day data Error detection improved for country codes in ID numbers
November 1999	Foreign evaluations of parents included in cow evaluations Different tests included when cows change herds Foreign ID may be preferred over U.S. ID
August 1999	Net merit calculated from Interbull evaluations that include SCS and PL evaluations based on 1 to 9 daughters; parent average previously used for those bulls Evaluation start moved 1 week later, allowing an additional week of data to be included
May 1999	Fluid and cheese merit indexes and expected inbreeding available for cows Cows required to be tested in first 90 instead of 75 days of lactation Maternal grandsire and birth date supplied for international bulls Foreign evaluations of bull dams from more countries used in parent averages
February 1999	Lactation records computed from test-day data by best prediction Factors to adjust for 3 milkings per day updated Fluid merit and cheese merit indexes introduced New test-day edits and new programs to accommodate American ID installed Use of Canadian dam data extended to other nations New sampling procedures used for expected inbreeding Bull rankings provided on web and automatically by e-mail
November 1998	Cows in owner-sampler plans received predicted transmitting abilities (PTAs) Registry status and recessive codes provided
August 1998	No changes
May 1998	Interbull evaluations official for a larger number of bulls
February 1998	Formats displayed international ID numbers and 4-digit years Expected inbreeding of future progeny provided to help identify outcross bulls Reliabilities of milk, fat, and protein combined into yield reliability Type data for breeds other than Holstein evaluated with a multitrait animal model
November 1997	No changes
August 1997	Heritability increased to 30%, herd-sire interaction decreased to 10%, and permanent environment decreased to 15% Deviations from management group mean limited to 4 standard deviations Five Netherlands bulls received U.S. PTAs
May 1997	Frequency of evaluations increased to 4 times per year
February 1997	Owner-sampler and other records with type-of-test 40 to 77 used Future milk prices forecast with a relative protein:fat ratio of 2:1 National and international evaluations released together Interbull evaluations preferred when reliability is 5% higher than U.S. reliability except when U.S. reliability reaches 80% Public access to cow and bull PTAs provided at AIPL web site
July 1996	Lactation weights computed from record standards variables instead of days in milk
January 1996	Missing PL and SCS added to make net merit available for all cows Reliabilities for foreign bulls account for imperfect genetic correlation
July 1995	Net merit, PL, and SCS provided for cows with records For bulls with Canadian dams, converted Canadian data used for parent averages
January 1995	Genetic base changed to cows born in 1990 New adjustment factors for age, parity, season, and previous days open Residual age-parity effects included in model New multiplicative SCS age adjustment factors Conversions for European bulls replaced with Interbull multitrait across-country evaluations (MACE)
July 1994	Direct and indirect measures of PL combined by Holstein Association Missing PL and SCS added to provide net merit for all bulls Percentiles changed from milk-fat-protein dollars (MFP$) to net merit (bulls only) Reliability of net merit added
January 1994	PL, SCS, and net merit introduced Inbreeding calculated and used in relationship matrix inverse
July 1993	Converted Canadian data provided on same day and in same format as U.S. data
January 1993	Improved editing system installed Animal model computations moved from Cornell to AIPL Canadian evaluations converted and combined with U.S. PTAs
July 1992	No changes
January 1992	No changes
July 1991	Heterogeneous variance adjustment began
January 1991	New lactation weights and expansion of partial records began (RIP dip adjustment)
July 1990	No changes
January 1990	Records from later herds included in animal model
July 1989	Animal model implemented Genetic base changed to cows born in 1985 Missing protein PTAs estimated Percentiles changed from milk-fat dollars (MF$) to MFP$ Red-and-White breed data combined with Holstein data
Earlier history	History of USDA evaluations

Last Modified: 07/22/2021