1. George R. Wiggans Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD george.wiggans@ars.usda.gov National Association of Farm Broadcasting (1) 2008 Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory (AIPL)

2. G.R. Wiggans 2008 National Association of Farm Broadcasting (2) l Conduct research to discover, test, and implement improved genetic evaluation techniques for economically important traits of dairy cattle and goats l Genetically improve efficiency of dairy animals for yield and fitness Mission

3. G.R. Wiggans 2008 National Association of Farm Broadcasting (3) l Yield w Milk w Fat w Protein l Component percentage w Fat w Protein Production traits evaluated

4. G.R. Wiggans 2008 National Association of Farm Broadcasting (4) l Type (conformation) l Productive life (longevity) l Somatic cell score (mastitis resistance) l Fertility w Daughter pregnancy rate (cow) w Estimated relative conception rate (bull) l Calving ease and stillbirth (service sire and daughter) Fitness traits evaluated

5. G.R. Wiggans 2008 National Association of Farm Broadcasting (5) U.S. dairy population & yield

6. G.R. Wiggans 2008 National Association of Farm Broadcasting (6) National Dairy Genetic Evaluation Program AIPL CDCB NAAB PDCA DHI Universities AIPL Animal Improvement Programs Lab., USDA CDCBCouncil on Dairy Cattle Breeding DHIDairy Herd Improvement (milk recording organizations) NAABNational Association of Animal Breeders (AI) PDCAPurebred Dairy Cattle Association (breed registries)

7. G.R. Wiggans 2008 National Association of Farm Broadcasting (7) Current research l Improved evaluations for male and female fertility l Improved evaluations of calving traits by accounting for genetic differences by parity l DNA information used in evaluations

8. G.R. Wiggans 2008 National Association of Farm Broadcasting (8) Genomic evaluations l Joint project with Bovine Functional Genomics Laboratory w Over 38,000 SNP informative for Holsteins w Over 6000 bull and cows genotyped so far l SNP effects estimated from animals with evaluations l Evaluations of young animals l Increased accuracy over parent information

9. G.R. Wiggans 2008 National Association of Farm Broadcasting (9) Current status l Field test results distributed for 750 nominated animals l Extension to Jersey and Brown Swiss in progress l Transition to commercial genotyping labs l Extension to cows planned for June

10. G.R. Wiggans 2008 National Association of Farm Broadcasting (10) Possible impact l Genomic evaluations received on bull calves before purchase l Genotyping required for bull dams l Decreased number of bulls in waiting l Marketing based on genomic evaluations l Increased rate of genetic improvement

11. G.R. Wiggans 2008 National Association of Farm Broadcasting (11) Summary l Genetic evaluations developed by AIPL are basis of impressive rate of genetic improvement l Frequent innovations improve accuracy and add traits of economic importance l Genomic information expected to lead to large changes in animal breeding industry