This document is meant as a guide for those of you using the dairy goat web tools available on this websit. It is not meant to be a comprehensive user manual but more of a collection of help on items that users have had questions about.

General

Website

URL

http://adgagenetics.org

What’s in the database…

The database contains publicly available dairy goat evaluation data from the American Dairy Goat Association and USDA Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory (AIPL).

Animal pedigrees with graphical navigation
Yield evaluation data for bucks and does
Type evaluation data for bucks and does
Calculated data

Production Type Index (PTI)
Estimated Transmitting Ability (ETA)
Coefficients of Inbreeding

What’s not…

Raw production test data although you can get this from the USDA website
Raw linear appraisal data
Show wins
Various identifiers for ADGA awards programs (GCH, ++*B, *M, etc.)
Many doe names are missing for does born prior to 1990. These does are identified only by registration number. There is a utility on the site to update missing doe names.

How often is the data updated?

Type evaluation data is updated once per year in January. Pedigrees are added for animals that aren’t already in the database. PTIs and ETAs are recalculated at this time.
Yield evaluation data is updated once per year in July. Pedigrees are added for animals that aren’t already in the database. PTIs and ETAs are recalculated at this time.
Goats without evaluation data can be added at any time by supplying the ADGA registration number.
Doe names can be updated at any time if the name only appears as the registration number.
ETAs are recalculated weekly to pickup any goats that had been manually added.

Registration numbers demystified

Registration number format is probably the most frequent cause of problems in using the site. This is especially true for Planned Pedigrees where the registration numbers must be entered manually.

The registration numbers used on the website are basically the same ones used for DHIA records. These can be found at the bottom of ADGA registration certificates. The registration numbers are always 10 characters long. Here is how to read them.

For Purebreds and Americans:

First character is always the breed (A, B, E, L, N, S, T)

2-3 Herdbook (00 is purebred, 18 is American)

4-10 Numeric part of the reg #, up to 7 digits padded with zeros if < 1,000,000.

Grades are a little different:

First character is always the breed (A, B, E, L, N, S, T)

2 Always a 0

3 the most significant digit if the reg # is over 1,000,000

4 Always a G

5-10 Last 6 digits of the reg # padded with zeros if less than 100,000

Here are some examples:

ADGA	DHIA
A1234567	A001234567
A456789	A000456789
AA1234567	A181234567
AA456789	A180456789
GA1234567	A01G234567
GA456789	A00G456789

Navigation

All the site tools can be accessed from the home page at http://adgagenetics.org. All the pages have a menu bar under the page title to navigate between the different tools and the Tools Home page.

Pedigrees

The pedigree search page is the most frequently used page on the website. It is the doorway you must pass through to find information on individual animals.

Searching

There are a variety of ways of narrowing the search for an animal. The image below shows the options. In all cases, something must be entered in the text box or no results will be returned. You can either hit the Enter key or mouse-click the Find button to start the search.

By breed

If you are interested in just one breed, by all means choose the breed. Results will come back faster, with fewer animals to wade through.

By sex

If it’s just bucks you need to see, choose from the Sex dropdown. Same reasons as above.

By Name begins with

Use this option if you want to get a complete list by herd name. Enter as little or as much as necessary to get what you want. You can expect faster response by entering more of the herd name. Any legal characters for herd names are ok. Stay away from special characters like %, _, [ and ] as your results may be unexpected. These shouldn’t appear in registered names anyhow.

Also be aware that there was a point in history where ADGA couldn’t handle spaces in herd names. People filled in with dashes (-), asterisks (*) and other characters. You may see a variety of names for the same herd!

By Name contains

Use this option to find any word contained in the registered name. This is good if maybe you don’t know the herd name but know some other portion of the name.

By Registration #

If you know the registration number, this is the quickest way to get to an individual animal. Use just the numeric part or portion of the registration number.

Navigating pedigree search results

Results of searches will be listed 20 to a page. With page navigation under the results, you can maneuver through the records. Use the First, Previous, Next and Last links.

Sorting pedigree search results

Results can be sorted in a variety of ways by clicking on the column headings. This makes it easy to see lists by date of birth, grouping by sire registration #, etc.

Pedigree Details

You can get to the details of an individual animal by clicking the Details link at the right side of the Pedigree search page. See the image below.

The details pages are slightly different for bucks and does but both contain 5 sections. They are:

Pedigree block
Calculated indexes
Yield
Type
Type details

Pedigree block

The pedigree block contains the animal’s vital statistics (name, reg #, DOB), a group of links to more detailed information and the pedigree itself. See the image below:

The pedigree shows 3 generations but is fully navigable. Simply click on any of the registered names link to display details for that animal. Navigation will stop at an animal with no sire or dam in the database. It’s very interesting to follow a line back as far as it will go. There are animals in some of the breeds going back into the 1940s and beyond.

Between the vital statistics and the pedigree are menu options (highlighted above). These links access more detailed information about the animal. Details are below:

Inbreeding

The Inbreeding page calculates the coefficient of inbreeding going back 10 generations if possible. This is a measure of the degree of common ancestors between the sire and dam lines. A higher percentage means more commonality. There is no real agreement over what the optimum percentage should be. It really depends on the concentration of traits. Just remember that good as well as undesirable traits can be made dominant through inbreeding. There is also data to suggest milk production is depressed in highly inbred animals. Also displayed are the top 10 contributors to the coefficient.

Line breeding

The linebreeding page shows the top 50 animals that have an inbreeding contribution by the buck or doe in question.. If you are looking to concentrate the traits of a particular buck that you have used but can’t really afford to inbreed, you might consider using another buck that has a high contribution from the buck in question. You can also subset the results by sex. Here is what a typical linebreeding page looks like:

Progeny

The progeny list is self explanatory. All animals with the current animal as either sire or dam will be listed. The only caveat is that the list will not be complete since the database contains only a subset of all the ADGA registration data. Results will be listed 20 to a page with navigation like the pedigree search page.

USDA link

A link is provided to automatically connect to pedigree and production records at USDA is they exist for the animal. This is a way to view test day data for does on test. Be patient with the connection as the USDA server is slow to respond.

Updating doe names

For the Doe Details page there is an option that is not available on the Sire Detail page. Since does born prior to 1990 are identified by registration # only, there is a utility to update the does registered name if it is known. The honor system is in effect here so make sure about the name before you change it. The note at the bottom of the details page explains the option:

Calculated Indexes

The section below the Pedigree block contains the calculated indexes for PTI and ETA is they exist. These indexes normalize evaluation data and act as predictors of genetic transmissibility. There are 2 flavors of indexes:

2:1 – production weighted over type
1:2 – type weighted over production

PTI

Production Type Index (PTI) is a measure combining both yield and type evaluations into a single number. The higher the number, the more likely improvements will take place by using those genetics. PTIs will only be calculated for animals with both yield and type evaluations.

ETA

The Estimated Transmitting Ability (ETA) is an index that hopes to predict the genetic potential of offspring based on the PTIs of the sire and dam (or dam’s sire). The higher the number, the more genetic potential. PTIs must be available to make this calculation.

Yield and Type

The yield and type sections summarize the USDA evaluation data. The displays are different for bucks and does due to the way the evaluations are done. Doe evaluations are done primarily on ancestry whereas buck evaluations are based solely on daughter data. Here are examples of both

Doe Yield and Type

Buck Yield and Type

Type details

This section of the details page is probably the most interesting. When there is type evaluation data, the type details view give a graphical representation of an animal’s strong and weak points. Bars pointing to the right are good and those to the left are not so desirable. Since this data is based on evaluations and is normalized for the breed, the length of the bar indicated the likelihood that the trait will be passed along to offspring. Remember that buck type data is based on daughter evaluation data and not the buck itself. Buck data should have more of an impact on your breeding decisions.

Planned Pedigrees

The ability to get an idea of what an intended breeding may produce without relying on just the luck of the draw is the beauty of this tool. It will give you a visual pedigree as well as calculate ETAs (if possible) and coefficient of inbreeding with top contributors. These are all things necessary for making sound breeding decisions. Here is an example planned pedigree. This one is pretty much an outcross based on the low inbreeding coefficient.

Registration numbers

Since registration numbers must be entered manually, take care in doing this correctly. Refer to the section on Registration numbers demystified. A good way to do this is to open 2 browser windows, one on pedigree search and the other on the planned pedigree page. Search for the buck and doe you’d like to try and use copy/paste to transfer the registration numbers. This is the surest way to avoid problems. The page will let you know if you have an invalid registration number.

ETAs

ETAs are calculated based on the sire and dam you choose. For an ETA to be calculated the sire and the dam or the dam’s sire must have PTIs. The higher the ETA, the more likely the offspring of the planned cross will pass on improvements.

Inbreeding %

If you are happy with the results of your breeding program and wish to continue with the same lines, look for an inbreeding percentage around 10%. You can verify that the top contributors are the animals you are getting the good stuff from.

PTI/ETA Index

The PTI/ETA Index page allows you to quickly search and sort through calculated PTI and ETA data. This data provides the best guess (based on evaluation data) on animals that will provide the most bang for the buck. Data can be sorted in a variety of ways. The text box is only active when the Name starting with or Name contains options are chosen.

USDA Buck Yield Viewer

If you wish to drilldown into the raw yield evaluation data, this is the tool you want to use. Access it from the menu bar on the new style pages or go to the Tools Home page. This page can be used to answer questions related to the bucks with the most potential to increase milk, fat and/or protein. It also can be used to find out which bucks have been used in the most herds, have the most daughter evaluations and/or most daughter lactations. The reliability of the evaluation is also included.

USDA Buck Type Viewer

This tool is similar to the yield tool but deals exclusively with type evaluations. You can sort and search through the summary data in various ways. You can drilldown into type data on a trait level by using the ideal range (set by I don’t know who), a user-defined range (set by you) or just order by descending PTA for bucks with positive trait values. This is a good tool for finding bucks that have a high degree of probability of correcting traits lacking in your herd. As with anything, you have to look at the whole picture when making breeding decisions.

Resources

Here are some pointers to web resources that will give you more details on some of the concepts covered by these tools.

URL	Description
http://aipl.arsusda.gov/reference/goat/goatsfs.html	Definitive article on the science behind the dairy goat evaluation process at USDA.
http://adga.org/SD/SireDevelopment.htm	Article on the ADGA Sire Development Program, including theory and calculation of PTI and ETA indexes.
http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/ansci/g02911.htm	A very in depth article on inbreeding, it’s meaning, uses and effects on farm animals.
http://www.netpets.org/dogs/healthspa/demyst.html	A more simplistic look at how inbreeding coefficients are calculated and what they mean.
http://aipl.arsusda.gov/cgi-bin/general/Qpublic/query-selection.cgi	This is the way to query the USDA evaluation database.