By including consideration for BH1, breeders should shorten calving
Welcome to the August 2013 Edition of the intervals for Brown Swiss females. The simple way to accomplish this is to
Brown Swiss Performance Summary
Published three times per year, the Performance Summary contains Genetic
Evaluations which are calculated using an all-breeds approach.
An All-Breed Animal Model is used for routine genetic evaluations of all
US dairy cattle. Records from cows of all breeds, including crossbreds, are
combined and analyzed together in one animal model by the Council on
Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) and then converted to intra-breed genetic
bases for publication.
The main focus should be on the sire and female ranking not
actual number values. Evaluations are based on more complete
data and accurate adjustments, hence the use of the Progressive
Performance Ranking (PPR) system.
Type data is collected by BSCBA classifiers and submitted to CDCB via
the Insinc online database. Production information is sent to CDCB directly
from the Dairy Records Processing Centers (DRPCs). To receive his first
official evaluation, a young bull must have 10 milking daughters for a
production evaluation and 10 classified daughters for a type evaluation.
Individual evaluation information can be viewed on CDCB's website:
www.cdcb.us.
Genomic Evaluations
This unique additional tool provides breeders with more accurate
evaluations (higher reliabilities) on both already proven sires or on young
sires with previously only Parent Averages. Bulls having Genomic data
included in their evaluation are so noted with a G under the column
previously designating MACE (M) or Interbull evaluations. Due to the
inclusion of Genomics, the various sire lists have been revised to allow
breeders additional selection options for their breeding decisions. Please
review the requirements for the various sire lists.
Genomic Evaluations are run monthly, but not considered official until
released at the time of normal sire evaluations, at which time they are made
available on pedigrees.
The Young Genomic Heifer list ranks genomically tested heifers less than
two years of age with positive PPR values.
Breeders are encouraged to test the top 25% deviation first lactation cows.
BH1 - Fertility Factor in Brown Swiss
One of the major areas of concentrated effort in the Brown Swiss breed
worldwide is to improve fertility. Thanks to the continuing research with
Genomics, a possible factor that has been contributing to lower fertility in
Brown Swiss has been identified. This Haplotype, or single copy of a DNA
region, is relatively common in the Brown Swiss population. However, the
Haplotype affecting fertility is also prevalent in other breeds, not merely
Brown Swiss. Factors have also been identified in Holstein and Jersey.
What interested researchers at AIPL is that no animals could be identified
that had two copies of this Brown Swiss Haplotype 1, or BH1.
Working with this discovery and utilizing the extensive data set provided
by DHIA records, AIPL scientist have determined that there is a high
probability BH1 impacts either conception or early embryonic development
in Brown Swiss cattle. What is exciting about this is that some of the
impact of this Haplotype is already contained in Brown Swiss Daughter
Pregnancy Rate (DPR), Sire Conception Rate (SCR), Cow Conception Rate
(CCR) and Heifer Conception Rate (HCR) data.
It must be stressed that BH1 is not a magic bullet that solves all fertility
issues. A couple of the most prominent sires that are noted for fertility
concerns do not have BH1 in their genotype. On the other hand, a number
of sires that are regarded as improvers of fertility do have BH1 in their
genotype. This means that there are more factors that influence fertility
than BH1.
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avoid using sires that have BH1 on daughters of bulls that also have been
labeled with BH1.
EXPLANATION OF THE VARIOUS LISTINGS
Top 100 PPR Bulls
The requirements for inclusion in this list are:
1. Reliability for production traits of 60% or higher.
2. Sire must possess a NAAB code.
3. Sire must have at least 10 classified daughters.
Thus, all bulls included on this list have daughter evaluations, either US
only or Interbull (M), and may or may not include Genomic data (G) as
well. As indicated above, they must contain both a production and a type
proof. This list is also available on the online database system as well as on
the Association website, www.brownswissusa.com.
Available AI Bulls - Profiles
Available AI Sires refers to bulls which are currently being actively
marketed in the US. This list includes Active AI Sires (US sampled) and
Available Foreign-Sampled Sires (US bulls sampled outside the US).
The available AI Sire entire list is published in the Brown Swiss Bulletin,
and is available on the Association website and through the online database
system. Profiles of the top 26 available sires having linear trait evaluations
are published above.
Complete Sire List
A complete sire list which includes all bulls with an evaluation, including
young sires with a Genomic evaluation only, is available either with the
online database system or on the Association website under the Complete
Top 500 Bulls listing.
Top 10 Lists
Bulls must be recognized as Superior or Qualified or in the Top 100
PPR Bulls list to be eligible for the Top 10 Lists. The bulls on these lists
and only those bulls will be eligible for publishing their rankings.
AI Young Sire Listing
AI Young Sires are ranked on PPR based on their Genomic evaluation if
available (Eval = G) or their Parent Average within their sampling group.
Parent Averages are computed by adding half the value of the sires PTA
for each trait to half the value of the dams PTA. Testing results are best
when a group of young sires are sampled rather than heavy use of a few
individual bulls.
Each performance summary book will list bulls sampled in the past 8-10
months (Group 1) and previous two years (Group 2). After two years, a
bull will no longer appear on the list. This procedure provides a
distribution of sampling for many different young sires, which will improve
genetic progress by increasing the average reliability and help identify the
truly superior bulls in the groups.
Top 50 US Bull List (new 4/12)
Bulls in this list must have at least 10 US daughters in both production and
type evaluations.
Additional lists and reports including Available and Complete Sire Lists
can be viewed using the online database.
 GENETIC EVALUATION UPDATES
PROGRESSIVE PERFORMANCE RANKING (2007) Sire Recognition Requirement
Bulls meeting the requirements of Superior or Qualified are so designated
The Brown Swiss Progressive Performance Ranking (PPR) is the ranking by an AS@ or a AQ@, readily identifying those bulls which meet the
system for sire and cow genetic evaluations. The formula has weights recognition requirements of Progressive Performance Ranking (PPR),
which add to 100 and, thus, are comparable to the percentage weight for reliability, and type levels of the top bulls of the breed. Progressive
each variable. Performance Ranking (PPR) for Superior Sires must be at or above a level
approximately equal to the 80th percentile of all current Brown Swiss bulls
Ranking Weights (Percentage) in the January run by CDCB and updated on a yearly basis. Progressive
Protein Fat SCS PL UDC MO DPR Performance Ranking (PPR) for Qualified Sires must be at or above a level
PPR 44 18 8 12 10 4 4 equal to 25 PPR points lower than the level for Superior Sires. Following
are the minimum sire recognition requirements:

The PPR Formula Superior Sire: PPR: +100

PPR Reliability 80%
[44 (PTAprotein/SDprotein) + 18 (PTAfat/SDfat) - 8 ((PTASCS-3.06)/SDSCS) +
PTAT 0.0
12 (PTAPL/SDPL) + 10 (UDC/SDUDC) + 4 (MO/SDMO) + 4 (DPR/SDDPR)] # Classified Daus. 10

where: SCS = Somatic Cell Score (Subtracted from the PTA value is the Qualified Sire: PPR: +75
mean plus one-half standard deviation) PPR Reliability 70%
PL = Productive Life PTAT 0.0
UDC = Udder Composite (See Formula below) # Classified Daus. 10
MO = Mobility
PTAT = PTA for Type (Final Score)
DPR = Daughter Pregnancy Rating Calving Ease Evaluations
SD = Standard Deviation of corresponding traits follow:
Trait Standard Deviation Brown Swiss bulls receive routine Calving Ease (CE) evaluations. The
Protein 15.90 base for Brown Swiss for both Service Sire Calving Ease (SCE) and
Fat 22.10 Daughter Calving Ease (DCE) of percent difficult births in heifers (%DBH)
SCS 0.12 were set to the mean %DBH of 5.19 for all Brown Swiss calvings. Service
PL 2.10 Sire Calving Ease (SCE) refers to the calvings of animals this bull was bred
UDC 0.65 to, while Daughter Calving Ease (DCE) refers to the calvings of the
MO 0.68
daughters themselves sired by this bull.
DPR 1.40

Since the weights sum to 100, the divisor is (100/100) or 1.

Milking Speed Evaluation
Udder Composite Brown Swiss bulls receive routine Milking Speed (MKS) evaluations.
(UDC) = .21 (PTAFUA/SDFUA) + .06(PTARUH/SDRUH) + .01(PTARUW/SDRUW) + Evaluations are expressed with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of
5. Higher numbers indicate faster milking while lower numbers indicate
.02(PTAUC/SDUC) + .35(PTAUD/SDUD) + .11(PTATP/SDTP) - .24(PTATL/SDTL) slow milkers. Bulls must have 10 or more daughters for an official
Corresponding Standard Deviations evaluation. An age limit of 68 months was imposed to be consistent with
Trait Standard Deviations type evaluations.
Fore Udder Attachment (FUA) 1.0
Heritability of Milking Speed is a moderate value of .22 with a repeatability
Rear Udder Height (RUH) 0.9
Rear Udder Width (RUW) 0.7 of .42. Initial evaluations ranged from 84 to 112. Milking speed is highly
Udder Cleft (UC) 0.9 correlated with Productive Life (.56) and Somatic Cell Score (-.40).
Udder Depth (UD) 1.0
Teat Placement (TP) 0.8 Type Evaluations
Teat Length (TL) 1.1
Bulls are now required to have at least 10 daughters with type classification
data for their PTAT and linear evaluation to be published. Type Data
requirements are now consistent with production requirements and sire
Mobility - August 2012 recognition requirements regarding minimum number of daughters with
Brown Swiss have received mobility (MO) scores as part of final usable data.
breakdowns for the past 5 years. Mobility has a higher correlation to Final
Score, UDC, and PL (.31 correlation with PL). Mobility is a global trait
that also considers RLRV, thurl placement, flex to the hock, overall
comfort, and ease of movement, in addition to RLS and FA, which
previously made up FLC. Thus, MO replaces FLC in the PPR formula.
Mobility is evaluated on the move or standing in the stall. The heritability
of MO is .21. The traits most highly correlated with MO are FS, RLRV,
RUH, and RUW. A bull must have US daughters in order to receive a MO
evaluation. For a bull without a MO score, his parent average for mobility
is used to calculate PPR. For any parent without a MO score, a zero is used
in calculations.

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