Proof Terminology Explained

GENERAL PROOF TERMINOLOGY

• aAa
  An independent method for making mating decisions. Learn more HERE.
• Beta Casein | A key protein in milk.
  Studies have shown the A2 protein is preferred for its ease of digestibility.
• CDCB | Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding
  Calculates production, health, and efficiency traits and the NM$, CM$, FM$, and GM$ indexes
• DMS | Dairy Mating Service
  An independent method for making mating decisions. 
• EFI % | Effective future inbreeding percentage
  An estimate, based on pedigree, of the level of inbreeding that the progeny of a given animal will contribute in the population if mated at random
• GFI% | Genomic Future Inbreeding percentage
  Similar to EFI, an animal’s GFI also predicts the level of inbreeding he/she will contribute in the population if mated at random. Yet, GFI provides a more accurate prediction. It takes into account genomic test results and the actual genes an animal has.
• HA-USA | Holstein Association USA
  The world’s largest dairy cattle breeding organization, and the entity that calculates TPI and the conformation trait indexes.
• MACE | Multiple-trait Across Country Evaluation
  Denotes that a bull’s proof evaluation includes daughter information from multiple countries
• Kappa Casein | A key protein in milk
  The B variant is often preferred over the A or E variant for cheese making
• PTA | Predicted Transmitting Ability
  The estimate of genetic superiority or inferiority for a given trait that an animal is predicted to transmit to its offspring. This value is based on the animal’s own records and the records of known relatives.
• RHA | Registered Holstein Ancestry
  The percentage of the animal’s ancestry that can be traced to the origin of US or Canadian Holsteins

SIRE DESIGNATIONS

• 511 | Alta sires available as sexed semen
• Alta ADVANTAGE | Alta’s new genomic-proven sires reserved for loyal partner herds.
• Alta EDGE | The newest, most elite Alta sires available only to farms that choose to enter an Alta EDGE contract agreement
• CONCEPT PLUS DxD | Alta sires proven to create more pregnancies with conventional semen. They offer a 2%-5% conception rate advantage over the average or unknown conventional sire. You’ll also see it noted as simply CONCEPT PLUS
• CONCEPT PLUS 511 | Alta sires proven to create more pregnancies with sexed semen. These bulls offer a 3%-7%
  conception rate advantage over an average or unknown straw of sexed semen.
• FUTURE STAR | Genomic proven sires that offer the added benefit of creating more pregnancies that result in
  live, healthy calves. All FUTURE STARS are proven as high fertility CONCEPT PLUS sires, and have favorable values for all calving traits.
• G-STAR | Alta’s elite genomic-proven sire lineup.
• PROVEN STAR | Highly reliable daughter-proven sires in the Alta lineup.

PRODUCTION TRAITS & TERMS

• CFP | Combined fat and protein             
• PRel | Percent reliability of a sire’s production proof
• PTAF | Predicted transmitting ability for milk fat
  Calculated in pounds and as a percentage
• PTAM | Predicted transmitting ability for milk
  Shown as pounds of milk an animal is expected to produce above or below the average of its herdmates.
• PTAP | Predicted transmitting ability for milk protein
  Calculated both in pounds and as a percent

HEALTH & EFFICIENCY TRAITS & TERMS

• BWC | Body Weight Composite
  An index to measure the overall size and efficiency of a cow, included in NM$ as part of the Feed Saved index. The composite index is comprised of the following linear type traits, in order of weight within the BWC index: strength, dairy form, stature, rump width, and body depth.
• CA$ | Calving Ability Subindex
  Included in NM$, but not calculated directly as its own index. It combines the four calving traits, DCE, DSB, SCE, and SSB along with the economics associated with difficult calvings or calves born dead.
  • DCE | Daughter calving ease
    The percentage of a bull’s daughters who have difficult births during their first calving
  • DSB | Daughter stillbirth
    The percentage of a bull’s daughters who give birth to a dead calf in their first lactation
  • SCE | Sire calving ease
    The percentage of births of bull’s calves that are considered difficult in first lactation animals
  • SSB | Sire stillbirth
    The percentage of a bull’s calves that are born dead to first lactation animals
• CCR | Cow Conception Rate
  A lactating cow’s ability to conceive – defined as the percentage of inseminated cows that become pregnant at each service. A bull’s CCR of 1.0 implies that daughters of this bull are 1% more likely to become pregnant during that lactation than daughters of a bull with an evaluation of 0.0
• CW$ | Calf Wellness Index
  A selection index calculated by Zoetis that focuses exclusively on calf wellness traits including calf livability, respiratory disease and scours. It estimates the differences in expected lifetime profit associated with the risk of calfhood diseases and early death losses.
• DPR | Daughter Pregnancy Rate
  Daughter Pregnancy Rate is defined as the percentage of non-pregnant cows that become pregnant during each 21-day period. A DPR of ‘1.0’ implies that daughters from this bull are 1% more likely to become pregnant during that estrus cycle than a bull with an evaluation of zero. Each increase of 1% in PTA DPR equals a decrease of 4 days in PTA days open.
• DWP$ | Dairy Wellness Profit Index
  Calculated and published by Zoetis, it’s a selection index that includes production, reproduction, functional type, longevity, calving, plus Zoetis cow and calf wellness traits, Zoetis fertility traits and Polled test results. The bucket weights break down with approximately 36% on production traits and 64% on health traits.
• EFC | Early First Calving
  Defined in days, it explains an animal’s likeliness to calve younger than herdmates. A positive value means a heifer is more likely to calve younger. A negative value means a heifer is more likely to have an older age at first calving.
• FE | Feed Efficiency Index
  A composite index that includes production traits, body weight composite and residual feed intake to reflect better feed utilization. Included in TPI, it’s not published as its own index.
• FI | Fertility Index
  Combines several reproductive components all into one index. It’s included in the TPI formula, but not published as its own index. It includes the following traits, in order by weight within the index: daughter pregnancy rate, cow conception rate, heifer conception rate, and early first calving.
• FSAV | Feed Saved
  Expressed in pounds of feed saved per lactation above or below the breed average. It combines Body Weight Composite (BWC) and Residual Feed Intake (RFI) evaluations based on actual, rather than expected feed intake data. Larger, positive values are more favorable.
• GL | Gestation Length
  Indication of the length that a sire’s mate carries a calf, in days, as compared to the average of the breed
• HCR | Heifer Conception Rate
  A virgin heifer’s ability to conceive – defined as the percentage of inseminated heifers that become pregnant at each service. An HCR of 1.0 implies that daughters of this bull are 1% more likely to become pregnant as a heifer than daughters of a bull with an evaluation of 0.0
• HLIV | Heifer Livability
  A measure of the cow’s ability to stay alive in the herd. Data is a subset of Productive life, but accounts for whether a cow was sold for a cull price or died on the farm.
• HRel | Percent reliability for a sire’s health trait proof numbers
• HTH$ | Health Trait Subindex
  Calculated by CDCB, included in TPI and NM$, but not released as its own index. It is made up of the following traits, in order of weight within the index. For each of the following traits, a positive number equates to better resistance against the given health condition.
  • MAST |  Resistance to Mastitis
    Measures a cow’s resistance to contract mastitis
  • METR | Resistance to Metritis
    Measures a cow’s ability to resist contracting metritis
  • DA | Resistance to Displaced Abomasum
    Measures a cow’s ability to resist having a displaced abomasum
  • RETP | Resistance to Retained Placenta
    Measures a cow’s ability to resist having a retained placenta
  • KETO | Resistance to Ketosis
    Measures a cow’s ability to resist contracting ketosis
  • MFEV | Resistance to Milk Fever or Hypocalcemia
    Measures a cow’s resistance to contract milk fever at calving
• LIV | Cow Livability
  A measure of the cow’s ability to stay alive in the herd. Data is a subset of Productive life, but accounts for whether a cow was sold for a cull price or died on the farm.
• PL |  Productive Life
  Measured as the total number of additional or fewer productive months that you can expect from a bull’s daughters over their lifetime. Cows receive credit for each month of lactation, with more credit given to the first months around peak production, and less credit given for months further out in lactation. More credit is also given for older cows than for younger animals.
• RFI | Residual Feed Intake
  Measures the difference of actual and expected feed intake from actual feed intake data from several thousand cows in the US and Canada, and is included in NM$ as part of Feed Saved.
• SCS | Somatic cell score
  The log score of somatic cells per milliliter.
• WT$ | Wellness Trait Index
  An index calculated by Zoetis that focuses exclusively on cow wellness traits (mastitis, lameness, metritis, retained placenta, displaced abomasum, ketosis, respiratory disease, milk fever and polled) and estimates potential profit contribution of these wellness traits only.

CONFORMATION TRAITS & TERMS

• BWC | Body Weight Composite
  An index to measure the overall size and efficiency of a cow. The composite index is comprised of the following linear type traits, in order of weight within the BWC index: strength, dairy form, stature, rump width, and body depth.
• FLC | Foot & Leg Composite Index
  Calculated by Holstein USA, it is an index to describe animals that transmit superior mobility, steeper foot angle, wider rear leg stance with little or no hock-in and slightly straight rear legs side view. It’s comprised of the following linear type traits, in order of weight: foot & leg classification breakdown score, stature, rear legs rear view, foot angle, and rear legs side view.
• PTAT | Predicted transmitting ability for type
• TRel | Percent reliability for a sire’s conformation/type proof
• UDC | Udder Composite Index
  Calculated by Holstein USA, it’s an index to describe a well-formed, trouble-free udder, capable of holding large volumes of milk. It is comprised of the following linear type traits, in order of weight: rear udder height, stature, udder depth, rear udder width, fore udder attachment, udder cleft, rear teat placement, teat length, and front teat placement.

GENETIC RECESSIVES

Carrier codes | Animals are confirmed carrier of the respective genetic recessive

• BL  Bovine Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency (BLAD)
• BY  Brachyspina
• CV  Complex Vertebral Malformation (CVM)
• DP  Deficiency of the Uridine Monophosphate Synthase (DUMPS)
• MF  Mulefoot
• PO  Observed polled, but not necessarily genetically tested for this trait (polled is a dominant trait)
• PC  Tested heterozygous polled (meaning 50% of offspring are expected to be polled)
• PP  Tested homozygous polled (meaning 100% of offspring are expected to be polled)
• RC  Carrier of recessive red hair color
• B/R  Black/Red hair color
• DR1   Tested heterozygous for the dominant red hair color
• DR2  Tested homozygous for the dominant red hair color

Tested-free codes | Animals have been tested free of the respective genetic recessive

• TL   Tested free of BLAD
• TY  Tested free of Brachyspina
• TV  Tested free of CVM
• TD  Tested free of DUMPS
• TM  Tested free of Mulefoot
• TP  Tested free of the polled trait (meaning the animal has horns)
• TR  Tested free of red hair color

HAPLOTYPES

• An ‘F’ after each haplotype ensures the animal is tested free of that haplotype.
• A ‘C’ after each haplotype means that animal is a carrier of that haplotype.

Haplotypes that negatively affect fertility

• HH1C | HH1F
• HH2C | HH2F
• HH3C | HH3F       
• HH4C | HH4F
• HH5C | HH5F
• HH6C |HH6F

Haplotype for cholesterol deficiency

• HCDC | HCDF