Presentation made at the 2004 ADSA meeting.

1. J.B. Cole,* M.E. Tooker, P.M. VanRaden, andJ.B. Cole,* M.E. Tooker, P.M. VanRaden, and
J.H. Megonigal, Jr.J.H. Megonigal, Jr.
Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory
Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD
jcole@aipl.arsusda.gov
Breed Composition Codes for
Crossbred Dairy Cattle with an
Application to Calving Ease

2. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (2) J. B. Cole
2004
ObjectivesObjectives
• Develop a system for storing breed
composition data in a national
database.
• Investigate a breed-of-sire calving
ease evaluation for Brown Swiss and
Jersey sires using purebred and F1
daughters.

3. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (3) J. B. Cole
2004
Options for Crossbred EvaluationOptions for Crossbred Evaluation
• Use crossbred records in a breed-of-
sire evaluation.
• Use records from all animals in a
single across-breed evaluation.
• Do not use the records (the current
system).

4. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (4) J. B. Cole
2004
Crossbred TableCrossbred Table
• 338,968 animals
• Animal identification
• Breed fractions for 18 dairy breeds
• Four-generation breed stack
• Sire breed stack
• Heterosis value

5. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (5) J. B. Cole
2004
Crossbred TableCrossbred Table
• The four-generation breed stack
allows identification of crossbred
sires.
• The sire breed stack summarizes
the breeds of the sire and the
dam's male ancestors up to 24
generations.

6. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (6) J. B. Cole
2004
Non-zero Breed FractionsNon-zero Breed Fractions
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
AY BS GU HO JE MS
Breed
NumberofAnimals

7. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (7) J. B. Cole
2004
FF11 for each Breed Crossfor each Breed Cross
Sire
Breed
Dam Breed
AY BS GU HO JE MS Total
AY 74 279 2817 253 119 3542
BS 340 563 11,509 991 47 13,450
GU 137 110 4340 424 45 5056
HO 3287 3653 8643 5388 1159 22,130
JE 282 329 699 23,514 65 24,889
MS 61 47 107 1539 73 1827
Total 4107 4213 10,291 43,719 7129 1435 70,894

8. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (8) J. B. Cole
2004
Calving EaseCalving Ease
• Sire-MGS threshold model
• Breed-of-sire evaluation
• Fixed breed effect to distinguish
between purebred and F1
calvings

9. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (9) J. B. Cole
2004
Calving Ease DataCalving Ease Data
• CE records from 1998 to 2003
• 11,793 BS and 3443 BS-sired F1
s
• 65,293 JE and 7095 JE-sired F1
s
• Herds with only one observation or
only difficult calvings were excluded

10. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (10) J. B. Cole
2004
BS Threshold Model SolutionsBS Threshold Model Solutions
0.010.49131,387Maternal grandsire
0.010.48131,387Sire
0.110.162Breed composition
0.220.7611Maternal-grandsire birth year
0.050.166Sire birth year
0.310.886Parity-gender
0.260.9612Year-season
0.363.892366Herd-year
SDRangeLevelsEffect

11. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (11) J. B. Cole
2004
BS Service Sire and Daughter PTABS Service Sire and Daughter PTA
for %DBH by Birth Year of Bullfor %DBH by Birth Year of Bull
6
7
8
9
10
11
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01
Birth Year
%DBH
Service Sire %DBH
Daughter %DBH

12. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (12) J. B. Cole
2004
Distribution of BS Service Sire andDistribution of BS Service Sire and
Daughter PTA for %DBHDaughter PTA for %DBH
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 >12
%DBH
Frequency(%)
Service Sire %DBH
Daughter %DBH

13. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (13) J. B. Cole
2004
JE Threshold Model SolutionsJE Threshold Model Solutions
0.010.38131,385Maternal grandsire
0.010.45131,385Sire
0.350.492Breed composition
0.110.317Maternal-grandsire birth year
0.050.135Sire birth year
0.210.546Parity-gender
1.385.2813Year-season
0.414.033405Herd-year
SDRangeLevelsEffect

14. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (14) J. B. Cole
2004
JE Service Sire and Daughter PTAJE Service Sire and Daughter PTA
for %DBH by Birth Year of Bullfor %DBH by Birth Year of Bull
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01
Birth Year
%DBH
Service Sire %DBH
Daughter %DBH

15. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (15) J. B. Cole
2004
Distribution of JE Service Sire andDistribution of JE Service Sire and
Daughter PTA for %DBHDaughter PTA for %DBH
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1 >1
%DBH
Frequency(%)
Service Sire %DBH
Daughter %DBH

16. Crossbred Dairy Cattle and Calving Ease (16) J. B. Cole
2004
ConclusionsConclusions
• Crossbred animals can be rapidly
identified using the new database.
• It is feasible to use crossbred
records in genetic evaluation.
• There is no genetic trend for calving
ease in BS or JE.
• Future analyses will include breed
effects for service sires and dams.