Partial exclusion of some August MACE data from the genomic reference population

Productive life (PL), SCS, and fertility traits from the April instead of August multitrait across country evaluation (MACE) were used in computing genomic evaluations for Holsteins, Jerseys, and Brown Swiss. While updating the MACE evaluations, some unusual multi-trait PL predictions occurred for genotyped bulls that had daughters for milk but none for PL. The source of the problem was not yet determined so, following a conservative approach, the genomic reference population included the April MACE data instead. In addition, a new edit to allow only +5 years old bulls into the reference population for those same traits (PL, SCS, fertility, and LIV) was included, to prevent the early data from sons from over-representing their sire’s daughter data in these cases. All other traits (yield, type, and calving traits) and other breeds (Ayrshire, Guernsey, and Milking Shorthorn) fully used the August MACE data. All new domestic phenotypic records, the most influential type of data for these evaluations, were included. Please note that we will make MACE 1708 available as usual. On behalf of CDCB and AGIL staff, please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.