Technical Explanations

CVF

This signifies that the animal is free from the genetic recessive disease Complex Vertebral Malformation. This disease has been linked to embryonic deaths, abortions and still-births.

BLF

This shows that the animal has been tested free from Bovine Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency (BLAD). BLAD is again a genetic recessive disease which stops an animals immune system from repairing itself, making the carriers extremely susceptible to a host of infections for example pneumonia.

Milk, Fat & Protein

The Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTA’s) are the most commonly used indices around the globe for comparing the production traits of sires.

For Example:

  • +300 kg milk
  • +24.1 kg Fat
  • +20 kg Protein
  • Rel: 79%

The daughters of this sire would be expected to give on average, in their first lactation, an extra 300 kg of milk, 24.1 kg fat and 20 kg protein, compared to daughters of a sire who had a PTA of 0 kg Milk, 0 kg Fat and 0 kg Protein.

The reliability figure is a reflection of the number of daughters that have contributed to the bull's proof and their distribution across herds. When published for bulls, reliability ranges from 50% to 99%. The higher the reliability, the more likely the proof is to be an accurate reflection of the bull's true transmitting ability.

Note: PTA’s from differing countries should not be directly compared as the genetic bases will be different.

PIN

Profit Index (PIN) is an economic index derived from the production PTA. It is expressed as a financial value in £s and reflects the expected increase in revenue per lactation for each daughter, relative to an animal with a PIN of zero.

PLI

Profitable Life Index (PLI) is a very similar economic index to PIN, but it recognises that milk production is not the only factor to influence profitability, but that herd life also has an important part to play. The core of its formula is the same as PIN, but added to this is a weighting for various longevity related traits.

Linear Pattern

It is not a measure of the sire's own type, but is calculated from the linear scores of daughters and how far from the breed ideal the daughters score in comparison to their dams and contemporaries for each trait.

The figures are expressed on a scale of around -3 to +3, with both extremes denoting a likelihood of movement. A few exceptional animals will fall outside this range. These figures are known as standard deviations and indicate how far the animal is from breed average.

Fertility Index

The fertility index is a guide to the fertility of daughters in a UK herd. As a rough guideline, the scale goes from -20 to +20, with the higher values being better, the breed average is currently -1.2 for available sires.

The proof will read either Non-Improver for those sires below the breed average, or Improver for those sires above the breed average.

Lifespan

The Lifespan value itself is measured by actual daughter survival and from certain type traits. The main type traits are both leg & foot composite and mammary composite, whilst Somatic Cell Count is also included.
The scale goes from approximately -1 to +1, with higher values being better.

The proof will read either Non-Improver for negative values, or Improver for positive values.

Calving Ease

An estimation of the percentage of difficult births for first calved heifers. The guidelines for Calving Ease go from 5% up to 14% with the low scores being Easy Calvings and the higher scores being Harder Calvings.

The proof will read Easy for those sires at 8% or lower, Average for those sires scoring either 9% or 10%, and Harder for those sires scoring 11% or higher.

Milking Speed

Milking Speed is assessed on all of a sires daughters that are included in a proof. The scale goes up in whole numbers from 1 through to 5, with 1 being slow milkers and 5 being fast milkers. The proof will read
1 – Slow, 2 – Below Average, 3 – Average, 4 – Above Average, 5 – Fast.

Temperament

Temperament is assessed on all of a sires daughters that are included in a proof. The scale goes up in whole numbers from 1 through to 5, with 1 being nervous and 5 being docile. The proof will read 1 – Nervous,
2 – Below Average, 3 – Average, 4 – Above Average, 5 – Docile.

Somatic Cell Count

SCC is a measure of a bull’s daughter’s predicted average Somatic Cell score across her lactation. In general the scale goes from -25 through to +25, with the lower numbers indicating the lower cell scores.

The proof will read Improver for those -6 and under, Average for between -5 and +5, Non-Improver for those +6 and higher.