American Simmental Association

Herdbook Online Services

--handling registrations, transfers, THE, data entry, data lookup 

Announcements

* Spring 2022 compliance reporting is now in effect.

What does this mean? It means that each dam enrolled on your Spring 2022 THE inventory needs to have a calf reported, even if they are not being registered. If they did not calve, a productivity code, explaining why she did not calve, may be used.

If the reporting requirement has not been met, your account is considered to be in non-compliance and you will not be able to process any registrations/transfers until the data has been turned in.

Please click on this link for instructions.

* 2022 Year-Letter is “K”, 2023 is "L"

In accordance with the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) guidelines, the year-letter animal identifications are:

• 2021 - J

• 2022 - K

• 2023 - L

• 2024 - M

• 2025 - N

Per the BIF guidelines, the following letters are not used: “I”, “O”, “Q”, & "V".

Challenging Times. 

* Large amount of Carcass Records Added to the IGS Genetic Evaluation

The IGS Multi-breed Genetic Evaluation has added a large number of carcass records to the genetic evaluation on 12/15/20. Nearly 10,000 records were added from the American Simmental data, 20,000 from the IGS beef data, and about 40,000 beef on dairy records from Limousin and Lim-Flex cross cattle. There are no modeling changes, just additional carcass records that were previously filtered due to concerns over selection bias. This only affected the Ribeye Area and Carcass Weight EPDs as the records were not filtered for the fat traits (BF and marbling). The correlations between previous EPDs and the EPDs with the additional data are high but there may be some individual changes due to the influx of tens of thousands of carcass records. Carcass traits remain rare and sought after phenotype - we are excited to gain valuable carcass awareness for the genetic evaluation with the addition of these records.  

*Updates to Birth Weight Ratio and Collection Method

The Board of Trustees recently passed a resolution to change the direction of the ratio for birth weights so that larger ratios will be assigned to animals with heavier birth weights in their contemporary group and vice versa.  This resolution came about to try to standardize the direction of the ratios so that higher ratios uniformly mean more of that trait.  

Also new in regard to birth weight, breeders can now indicate if they use hoof tape to estimate birth weight in Herdbook.  There is a column called  “BwMethod” next to the column where birth weights are entered in the animal entry page.  If the weights were estimated using hoof tape, then simply put a T in the “BwMethod” column.  If birth weights were obtained using a scale, there is no need to enter anything.  

* Terminal Index Percentile Correction

With the switch to the new growth trait models, the percentile tables needed to be updated.  There was an error in the Terminal Index percentile calculations that was corrected on September 2.  Terminal Index Percentile rankings reported from August 16 to September 2 will not be correct.  If members have pulled Terminal Index percentiles during this time frame, they will need to visit herdbook.org for corrected Terminal Index percentiles.  The only affected value was the Terminal Index Percentile ranking, all other percentile values were correct. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. 

* PAP EPD 

A joint effort between IGS and Colorado State University has produced the first set of PAP EPDs for IGS animals. More information here. Download the list here. 

* Possible Change on EPDs

An EPD +/- one PC unit tells you a range within which the animal’s EPD will land 2 out of 3 times.  Further, an EPD +/- two PC units tells you a range within which the animal’s true EPD will land 95% of the time. Even further, an EPD +/- three PC units tells you a range within which the animal’s EPD will land 99% of the time.

For example, if a bull has a Calving Ease EPD of 12.0 and a PC of 3.0, the following is true. 

• 66.6% of the time, the bull’s CE EPD will land between 9.0 and 15.0 (12.0 +/- 3.0).  This also means 33.3% of the time the bull’s CE EPD will land either below 9.0 or above 15.0.  

• 95% of the time, the bull’s CE EPD will land between 6.0 and 18.0 (12.0 +/- 6.0).  5 out of 100 bulls will land outside that range.

• 99% of the time, the bull’s CE EPD will land between 3.0 and 21.0 (12.0 +/- 9.0). 1 out of 100 bulls will land outside this range. More Info 

* BOLT EPDs now available

International Genetic Solutions (IGS) has implemented a revolutionary beef genetic evaluation that uses a single-step genomic marker effects model.  This new approach, referred to as the IGS Multi-breed Genetic Evaluation powered by BOLT, results in more precise EPD predictions, the most valid accuracy values currently possible, and widespread refinements across the board for the predictions of stayability, calving ease, and growth traits.  Multi-breed, directly comparable EPDs, and weekly evaluation runs - welcome to the power of collaboration.  Welcome to IGS.  More info

To compare to the previous EPDS, navigate to Herd Mgmt -> Reports. Select an existing group or type ASA numbers under the Quick Group tab. Then select the "Cornell EPD Comparison" report on the right, and click "Generate Report". Note: You must be logged in run the comparison.

* Protocol for IGS Multi-breed Evaluation powered by BOLT

Every Tuesday at 12:01 a.m., all new data (pedigrees, phenotypes and genotypes) submitted by IGS partners over the previous week are added to the existing IGS database and the weekly genetic evaluation process begins. The evaluation recalculates EPDs for all animals based on the updated database (all 17.5M+ animals are reevaluated). Although issues may arise that extend the time frame, this function typically requires 4 days to complete. Upon completion of the weekly genetic evaluation run, updated EPDs are sent to each IGS partner to be posted on their website. The date associated with the EPDs reflects the date the IGS database was updated with new data for that week (Tuesday), not the actual date of the new evaluation release. 

* Registering an animal of another Breed - Foundation Registration

If you are registering an animal out of a sire of another breed, this sire must be registered in another breed association and then registered with ASA as a foundation animal.

If you are registering an animal out of a cow of another breed that is registered in another breed association the animal will have a more complete pedigree and EPDs if the cow is registered with ASA as a foundation animal.

There is information on registering foundation animals here.

* Oculocutaneous Hypopigmentation (OH)

This is a cosmetic genetic trait affecting Simmental cattle.  For more information on genetic defects click here  

* Within Herd Genetic Trends

You can now see the genetic trends of your herd for 9 EPDs. You can also compare your genetic trend to the genetic trend for all animals in ASAs database. Select the "Trends" option under the "Herd Mgmt" tab above (after logging in). More..

* Check your Performance Advocate Score

"Performance Advocate Scores" are now displayed for THE herds on ASA web site. More..

* Avoid processing delays! Required tests for sires and donor - 

All bulls with semen collected and donor cows must be have a high density DNA SNP analysis. And all sires and donors cows with a carrier in their lineage (CL, DL) or who come from a risk population (PR) for specified genetic defectives must be tested for that defective before registration certificates and EPDs are available on new progeny. Please plan ahead; tests can take from 4 to 8 weeks. No testing is required on dams of natural calves. More..

-------------------- Instructions for Herdbook Services -------------------------

• 1. `Log in` by choosing that option from options tab in the top bar. Have your member/account number and password available. If you are not a member of the Association, you can create an account from the Log In page to have access to more search features.

  2. Registrations, transfers, calf records and THE enrollments can be done under `Data Entry` after log in.

  3. Choose Online from `Data Entry` to enter data through the web site. You can preload animals or start with an empty spreadsheet of rows and columns. Each row represents 1 animal and the columns represent specific data on the animal. When you select (click on) a column heading, information about the colum is displayed. The tabs immediately above the spreadsheet are used to change the column headings for entering (or viewing) additional data.

  4. Choose Download from `Data Entry` to get a form to enter this information off line using Excel to upload at a later time. Choose Upload when the Excel file is complete and data is ready to send to ASA.

  5. To display epd and pedigree information choose `Animal Search` under `Data Search`. Choose `EPD Search` to search the database for animals meeting specified EPD and other criteria.

  6. `Reports` under `Herd Mgmt` provides calf crop summaries and more. You can also create you own groups and reports.

  7. Please call (406-587-4531) or email (simmental@simmgene.com) the Association if you have questions or comments.

American Simmental Association
One Genetics Way
Bozeman, Montana 59718 U.S.A.

Phone: 406-587-4531
Fax: 406-587-9301
Email: simmental@simmgene.com