New index combining production and type

The most important change in the evaluations since last year is the introduction of a new index (PTINDX) which is a combination of the production and type genetic evaluations. The combined index gives 60% emphasis to production and 40% to type. This will allow breeders to more easily identify and select for goats with a balance between the different traits.

New format for all three indexes (PINDX, TINDX and PTINDX)

The format of the indexes has been changed in order to give more meaning to the numbers and hopefully make them easier to understand and use. Each of the indexes now has an average of 100, where 100 represents a genetically average doe born in the last 5 years (10 years for LaMancha). In other words, if a buck has an index above 100, he is estimated to be a breed improver for that index. Similarly, below 100 means he is estimated to be genetically below the breed average.

Another feature of the new indexes is that the number lets you know approximately how much better (or worse) than average a buck is. About 4 out of 6 bucks will index within 25 points of 100. One in 6 will be below 75 and the other 1 in 6 will be above 125. About 95% of bucks will index within 50 points of 100. This means that bucks above 150 are in the top 2.5% of the breed, and bucks below 50 are in the bottom 2.5%.

Note that the evaluations are expressed on a rolling base. This means that the average will always be kept at 100, even though there is genetic improvement. The result of this is that a buck that indexes 100 today will tend to gradually drop below 100 as the breed improves. To continue to improve, breeders must therefore continually look for high indexing young bucks.

Production Evaluations

The milk and fat evaluations now include data from supervised one day milking competitions for herds that test all milking goats. In these competitions, goats are milked out at the start of the competition and then the volume of milk produced in the next 24 hours (2 milkings) is recorded, and a sample is tested for butter fat content. The evaluation takes into account the number of test day records on a goat. If a goat is on a regular monthly testing program, her records will contribute more than goats with only one or two tests from milking competitions. This evaluation included 43,889 test day milk records, of which 1,318 were from milking competitions and the rest from herds on monthly milk recording. There were 5,110 does with records and an additional 11,805 ancestors evaluated.

Type Evaluations

The type evaluations have been enhanced to include more ancestor information than previously. Pedigrees have been traced back as far as possible (up to 10 generations in some cases). This increases the accuracy of the evaluations and also adds more genetic ties between herds. Herds that were previously excluded due to a lack of genetic ties to other herds are now included. There were 4,575 does with a classification record and an additional 12,952 ancestors evaluated.

Top 10 Bucks Report

In the past there have been separate top 10 reports for production and type. There is now only a single report for each breed which lists the top 10 bucks for the combined index (PTINDX) and underneath these bucks, any additional bucks that were in the top 10 for either the production index (PINDX) or the type index (TINDX). The format of the report has changed a little to accommodate this. The following example explains how to read and interpret the report:

[1] The combined production-type index (PTINDX) is 142 and this is the number 1 active Alpine buck.

[2] The name of the buck is VALAISANNE EY ARLEQUIN. The buck is owned by Ferme Chimo located in the province of Québec (PQ).

[3] The buck's registration number is A51788. His sire is A46884 and his dam is A35233.

[4] His production evaluations (EBVs) are based on 9 daughters with at least one milk test. The daughters are all in 1 herd. A minimum of 5 daughters is required for official production EBVs.

[5] His milk EBV is +187 kg, his fat EBV is +4.5 kg and his protein EBV is +5.3 kg. On average, daughters can be expected to receive half of the buck's superiority, since only half their genes come from the sire. If this buck was mated to genetically average dams, the daughters under the same management conditions should average 93.5 kg more milk than the dams. His percentile ranking is 99 for all 3 traits, which means these EBVs are better than 99% of all Alpine bucks. His fat percent EBV is 3.23% and his protein percent EBV is 3.03%. These are the average percentages you can expect in daughters under average management conditions and from dams of similar genetic merit.

[6] His production index (PINDX) is 145, which is the 2nd highest among active Alpine bucks.

[7] His type evaluation is based on 9 daughters classified in 1 herd. Daughters must be classified in first or 2nd lactation before 42 months of age. A minimum of 3 daughters is required for official type EBVs. Note that a buck's own classification record is not included in his genetic evaluation.

[8] His EBV for general appearance (GA) is 4.7, for dairy character (DC) is 5.2, for body capacity (BC) is 6.1, for feet and legs (FL) is 4.6, for suspensory ligament (SL) is 5.3, for fore udder (FU) is 4.5, for rear udder (RU) is 5.6 and for teats (TE) is 5.1. The breed average for each trait is 5, which means he is below average for GA, FL and FU. He is above average for the other traits, especially body capacity. If you mated this buck to dams that were average for body capacity (i.e. linear type score=5), you could expect the daughters to have average linear scores of about 5.5, assuming average management conditions.

[9] His percentile ranking for final score is 88 and his percentile ranking for mammary system is also 88. This means he ranks higher than 88% of active Alpine bucks for both final score and mammary system.

[10] His type index (TINDX) is 117. This is not high enough to be in the top 10 for type among active Alpine bucks, so his ranking is left blank.

For More Information

If you have any comments or questions about the genetic evaluations, please contact the Canadian Goat Society office. Evaluations for bucks not listed in the top 10 report are available from the CGS office and also at http://www.ccsi.ca/goats/ on the internet.