Web Queries ||Complete List || Active AI/Foreign Bulls || Elite Cows || Download of Bull, Cow, and Goat Evaluations, and Herd Data
Individual animal queries and industry available queries will begin accessing the new evaluations at noon on release date.
The USDA complete list of bull evaluations will be available on the release date. Bulls with 10 or more daughters are eligible. The list includes evaluations for all artificial-insemination (AI) bulls designated active following the previous evaluations, any other AI bulls less than 15 years of age, and all non-AI bulls less than 8 years of age.
The list of USDA genetic evaluations for bulls in active artificial-insemination (AI) service and foreign bulls with semen reported as available in the U.S are expected to be available on the Thursday following the release date. The active and foreign bulls will be in separate lists. Summary tables of evaluation means, standard deviations, and percentile levels also are available.
Evaluations are included for bulls with 10 or more daughters and reported active by AI organizations and foreign bulls with semen reported as available in the U.S. through NAAB as of the data due date (about one month before release). These evaluations are predicted transmitting abilities (PTA's) for milk, fat, and protein yields, fat and protein percentages, productive life (PL), daughter pregnancy rate (DPR), somatic cell score (SCS) and Net Merit dollars (NM$).
The USDA high-ranking cow evaluations will be available on the Friday preceding release date. The elite cows are followed by high-ranking grades for each breed. Owner names and addresses associated with herd codes are in a separate file. Owners who have requested the privacy code will not have their name and address reported. Further information on determination of elite or high-ranking cow status can be found on the Elite Cow Statistics page.
Percentiles for cows are based on net merit dollars (NM$). The NM$ is based on predicted transmitting abilities (PTA's) in the milk, fat, and protein dollars index (MFP$) discounted for feed cost as well as on PTA's for productive life and somatic cell score. Further information on the calculation of NM$ can be found in Net merit as a measure of lifetime profit or Quick Calculation of Lifetime Net Merit.
The symbol * following the cow identification number means that there was a change in identification of cow, sire, dam, or birth date (or a combination of changes) after the second test day of first lactation. This information is provided in accordance with the Records Disclosure Policy found in the National Dairy Herd Improvement Program Uniform Operating Procedures document .
Please refer to the Genetic Evaluation Run Schedule for specific dates.
Compressed, encrypted, password-protected files will be available by 1 p.m., on the Friday prior to release date. File transfer protocol (FTP) can be used to download any file from ftp://aipl.arsusda.gov/pub/bulls and ftp://aipl.arsusda.gov/pub/cows any time after posting. Each file can be unencrypted with a password, supplied at 7 a.m. on release day, in the file ftp://aipl.arsusda.gov/pub/password. For details about changes made to the genetic evaluation system since the last run access Changes in Genetic Evaluations.
The compression software used to prepare the evaluation files is compatible with recent versions of PKZIP (Phil Katz' ZIP for MS-DOS systems). Files will be converted into PC-compatible form during compression. Please note that any file with a .zip extension must be downloaded with the binary option set in the FTP session.
Evaluation data are provided in several files and formats to accommodate the needs of users. Selecting the smallest file with the information needed will minimize transmission and decompression times. File details are shown in tables found on the evaluation page.