1. 2003 Paul VanRaden, Melvin Tooker,* Ashley Sanders, and George Wiggans Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD paul@aipl.arsusda.gov Quality of Data Included in Genetic Evaluations for Daughter Pregnancy Rate

2. ADSA Phoenix (2) Melvin Tooker 2003 Evaluation Methods  BLUP Animal Model  Same programs used for yield, PL, SCS  Adjust for regional, seasonal and parity differences.  Convert to preg rate = (233-DO) / 4

3. ADSA Phoenix (3) Melvin Tooker 2003 Average breed effects across regions and time by calving month

4. ADSA Phoenix (4) Melvin Tooker 2003 Parity Pre-Adjustments Initiated May 2003 ParityHolsteinJersey 1 st 0 0 2 nd - 4.1 - 3.7 3 rd - 7.1 - 5.6 4 th - 11.7 - 9.4 5 th - 16.7 - 13.4

5. ADSA Phoenix (5) Melvin Tooker 2003 Pregnancy Rate Evaluation Data Sources  Days open reported, verified calving interval.  No calving interval, days open reported.  No breeding date reported, next calf.  No breeding reported, no next calf.  Sold for reproductive reasons, days open set to 250.  Pregnancy verification codes have been available since 2002.

6. ADSA Phoenix (6) Melvin Tooker 2003 Pregnancy Rate Evaluation  Records considered complete at 250 DIM  Lower limit set to 50 DO 5% of records  Upper limit set to 250 DO 14% of records

7. ADSA Phoenix (7) Melvin Tooker 2003 AYBSGUHOJEMS Breeding date verified by next calving date 555448576453 Breeding date disagrees with next calving date 6 8 8 5 5 8 Breeding date but no next calving date 161520191716 Next calving date, but no breeding reported 7 9 8 6 611 Cows sold for reproductive problems 6 5 5 5 3 4 No information for fertility 10 911 8 5 8 Sources of Fertility Data 1998-1999

8. ADSA Phoenix (8) Melvin Tooker 2003 May 2003 Evaluation  Holstein data from May 2003 evaluation 40 million lactations 16 million cows  Example evaluations: Data for recent, well-sampled bulls Actual bull evaluations

9. ADSA Phoenix (9) Melvin Tooker 2003 Older Bull Evaluations (May 2003) BullRELDODPRPLNM$ Duster99- 9.6+2.4+4.3+451 Bellwood99- 0.8+0.2-0.5+353 Mandel99+7.2- 1.8-0.7+244 Luke99+9.2- 2.3-1.8+136 Mountain99- 4.4+1.1 +280 Mascot99+3.2- 0.8-2.9+20

10. ADSA Phoenix (10) Melvin Tooker 2003 Bulls ranked by Net Merit May 2003 Bull DPR PLNet Merit $ O Manfred Justice 0.4 3.1759 Vision-Gen Ozzie- 0.7 0.6692 Emerald Dawson- 1.1 0.9675 Pagen-Ernwood- 1.3 2.2630 Ricecrest Marshall- 1.7- 0.1625 Carol Prel. Mtoto- 1.5 2.0607 Windsor Machoman 1.1 3.0598 C.-Corner Defense 0.0 2.6593

11. ADSA Phoenix (11) Melvin Tooker 2003 Future Directions  Pregnancy rate will be included in Net Merit.  Fertility records will be used earlier in lactation.  DPR can be used in multi-trait PL.  Fertility database and formats will be improved.

12. ADSA Phoenix (12) Melvin Tooker 2003 Format 5 - Reproductive Records  Animal ID, sire ID, dam ID, X-ref ID  Animal herd code information  Reproductive segments: Date of event, code for actual or estimated date Includes many events, service sire ID

13. ADSA Phoenix (13) Melvin Tooker 2003 Format 5 - Reproductive Event Codes  H Observed in estrus (heat) but not inseminated  S Synchronized estrus event (injection or other methods)  A Artificial insemination  N Natural service breeding  E Embryo donation

14. ADSA Phoenix (14) Melvin Tooker 2003 Format 5 - Reproductive Event Codes...  IEmbryo implantation  PConfirmed pregnant  OConfirmed not pregnant (open)  XCow given a “do not breed” designation  DDelete event(s) for this “date of event”

15. ADSA Phoenix (15) Melvin Tooker 2003 Format 5 in the Future:  Separate estrus expression and conception rate (female fertility)  Service sire fertility (male fertility)  Keep track of ALL service sires, number and type of services, not just the most recent

16. ADSA Phoenix (16) Melvin Tooker 2003 Conclusions  Most herds are reporting accurate breeding dates.  Records currently used only if complete (250 DIM).  More reproductive events will be obtained in the future.  More accurate and complete data will provide better fertility evaluations for farmers and industry.

17. ADSA Phoenix (17) Melvin Tooker 2003 Acknowledgments  All DHIA herds and processing centers contributed data  Lillian Bacheller for work on improving the fertility database  John Clay suggested expressing cow fertility as pregnancy rate