How to use NAV Bull Search

How to use NAV Bull Search

With NAV Bull Search you can search for all AI bulls older than 10 months that have herdbook number in Denmark, Finland or Sweden and are included in Nordic red breeds, Holstein, Jersey or Finncattle evaluation. These bulls include all AI bulls tested in these countries and AI bulls that are imported for AI from foreign countries if they follow the publication rules to get an NTM published. NAV Bull Search is updated after NAV routine evaluation (February, May, August and November).

If a foreign bull has just came available in one or more of the three Nordic countries it might be missing from the NAV Bull Search for a while before the NAV Bull Search is updated. These foreign bulls can be found on NAVs Interbull search page if bulls birth country participates in Interbull evaluation for daughter proven and / or genomic tested young bulls.

NAV Interbull search can be found here.

Language

  • Choose language from the drop down menu in the top right corner
  • Available languages:
    • Danish
    • Finnish
    • Swedish
    • English
    • Russian
    • French

Search criteria

  • Evaluation - NAV is calculating breeding values in three separate evaluations. Breeding values can only be compared within the same evaluation.
    • An evaluation scale has to be chosen
    • Available evaluation scales:
      • Nordic red breeds
      • Holstein
      • Jersey
      • Finncattle
  • Birth country
    • Default is “All”
      • Displayed bulls can be born in any country as long as they have a herdbook number in either Denmark, Finland or Sweden.
    • Possible to choose one of the following birth countries at a time:
      • Denmark
      • Finland
      • Sweden
      • Denmark, Finland and Sweden (NAV countries)
      • Other (all other countries than Denmark, Finland or Sweden)
  • Name
    • Type the name of the bull
      • Possible to search with only part of the name
  • International ID – to search for an individual bull
    • Type the international ID of the bull (only the number)
    • International ID is built up from breed (3 letters), country code (3 letters), sex (1 letter, M/F) and 12 numbers (for example RDCFINM000000048719). Breed, country code, sex or zeroes should not be typed when searching for a bull.
      • Possible to search with only a part of the international ID
  • Herdbook number - to search for an individual bull
    • Type the herdbook number of the bull
      • Herdbook number can be Danish, Finnish or Swedish
  • Only bulls with progeny test / Only bulls with DFS progeny test / Only bulls without progeny test
    • Tick the box and select the wanted option from the drop down menu
    • Only bulls with DFS progeny test = bulls that have progeny test with at least 100 daughters with production phenotypes and 25 daughters with conformation phenotypes in Denmark, Sweden and Finland
    • Only bulls without progeny test = bulls that have only genomic test
  • Show bulls with herdbook number in
    • Possible to choose bulls that have a herdbook number only in Denmark, Finland or Sweden
  • Show SRB bulls – this option is only available when evaluation Nordic Red Breeds is chosen. This option display all bulls, regardless of birth country or herdbook, that are accepted as Swedish Red breed.
  • Show only bulls born between certain years
    • Type the years
  • Show sons of bulls
    • Type an international ID or herdbook number of the bull to the left and tick the box. As a search result you get a list of bulls sons.
  • Show grandsons of bull
    • Type an international ID or herdbook number of the bull to the left and tick the box. As a search result you get a list of bulls grandsons from the dams’ side.
  • Filter with indices and/or genetic traits
    • Tick a box and select a trait from the drop down menu
    • Select if you want an index to be smaller, equal to or larger than a value in the empty space on the right
    • Type a value to the empty space on the right
    • You can filter with max 5 traits at the same time
    • You can remove a trait and the search result updates according to the new search criteria
    • Select the genetic trait and which result you want to filter (free/carrier)
      • With polled and caseins there are more result options

After the search criteria is set click the Search button. The search result contains all bulls filling the search criteria. The list is sorted according to NTM as a default.

  • You can change sorting of the search result by clicking the headings (ascending and descending)
  • You can select how many rows are shown per page, default is 20 rows.
  • You can create a pdf or excel of top 25, 50 or 100 bulls of the search result

Bulls own page

Basic info of the bull

  • Born: Birth date of the bull
  • Breeder of the bull
  • Evaluation
    • Nordic red breeds
    • Holstein
    • Jersey
    • Finncattle
  • International ID
  • Herdbook numbers in Denmark, Finland and Sweden
  • Breed proportions as percentage
    • Full names of the breeds area available from the question mark in the top right corner
  • Number of daughters and herds in yield, udder health and conformation traits
  • Pedigree
    • Links to each bull´s own pages from bull´s name

Breeding values

First only NTM and sub-indices belonging to NTM are visible. You can see more breeding values behind the trait groups by clicking the name of the breeding value. There are also breeding values that are not included in NTM.

Breeding value from the current evaluation is visible next to the name of the breeding value. Breeding value is expressed also graphically. For conformation traits the optimums are expressed as white dots on the scale.

You can choose extra columns to be shown by ticking the check boxes above the list of breeding values:

  • Reliabilities
  • Contribution to NTM: How much this sub-index contributes to the bull’s Nordic total merit (NTM)
  • Index types: Is the breeding value based on genomic, daughter or only pedigree information and is it from NAV or from Interbull
NAV DTraditional indexNAV breeding value based on daughter information
NAV GGenomic indexNAV breeding value based on genomic information
IBInterbull indexInterbull breeding value (for Holstein bulls can be based either on daughters or genomic information)
  • Previous evaluation: Breeding value from previous evaluation for trait in question.
  • All available breeding values: Opens traits which the bull has a breeding value.

Pdf

You can create a pdf by clicking the PDF button on top right corner of the page.

Print bulls index graphs directly from the browser

Back to search page

You can go back to the search page by clicking the Search button on top right corner of the page.

Note!

Individual bulls with daughter information might not have breeding values for every trait. This is indicated with blank on the search list and on bulls own page.

Genomic breeding values are displayed for following breeding values:

  • NTM
  • Yield
    • Milk, Fat and Protein
    • Fat % and Protein %
    • Persistency
  • Growth
    • Daily carcass gain
    • Carcass conformation score
  • Fertility
    • Interval from calving to first insemination
    • Interval from first to last insemination (cows)
    • Conception rate (heifers)
    • Conception rate (cows)
  • Birth (no single traits)
  • Calving (no single traits)
  • Udder health (no single traits)
  • General health
    • Early reproductive disorders
    • Late reproductive disorders
    • Ketosis
    • Other metabolic diseases
    • Feet and leg problems
    • BHB
    • Acetone
  • Claw health
    • Sole Ulcer
    • Sole Hemorrhage
    • Heel Horn Erosion
    • Digital Dermatitis + Interdigital dermatitis
    • Verrucose dermatitis + Interdigital Hyperplasia
    • Double sole + White line separation
    • Cork screw claw
  • Frame
    • also single traits
  • Feet & legs
    • also single traits
  • Udder
    • also single traits
  • Milkability (no single traits)
  • Temperament (no single traits)
  • Longevity (no single traits)
  • Youngstock survival (no single traits)
  • Saved feed
    • Maintenance efficiency
    • Metabolic efficiency

Reliability, contribution to NTM and index type are displayed only for NTMs sub-indices.

Phenotypic values

You can see the phenotypic values or what breeding values mean in practice by clicking the “Show phenotypic values” button below the pedigree on bull’s own page.

Phenotypic values for single traits included in sub-indices in NTM are displayed for individual bull effect and average within breed. Summing these two values together gives the expected performance of an average daughter of this bull. Phenotypic values, for traits they are available, are weighted across lactations 1-3 with weight factors 0.30, 0.25 and 0.45.

Bulls with only genomic test have no breeding value for some single traits. For these bulls the sub-index is used to calculate the bull effect for single traits, assuming that single traits contribute to sub-index as average for the breed.

As a default the individual bull’s effect and breed average are shown for NAV countries together. The corresponding phenotypic values for Denmark, Finland and Sweden separately can be seen by clicking the check boxes above the table. This is recommended if there are notable differences between countries and if so, this is also indicated in the comment column.

Overview of phenotypic values – Nordic red breeds / Holstein / Jersey

Genetic traits

Genetic traits are traits that are inherited by a single gene or haplotype (group of alleles inherited together) and are not affected by the environment. These includes both traits such as polledness, red coat colour and beta casein and genetic defects such as CVM and bulldog, which are undesirable. It is now possible to detect a large number of genetic traits by using a separate lab test or deriving them from the SNP results based on a genomic test. Results show which of the allele variants an animal carries. This information can be used to avoid mating of animals that carry unwanted alleles for certain traits e.g. bulldog or select animals that carry desirable alleles for other traits e.g. polledness.

You can see the results for genetic traits by clicking the "Genetic traits" button below the pedigree on bull's own page. Available results for selected bull are presented. The results are extracted from information based on a genomic test. In the table for genetic traits, the trait name, code and result (carrier/free) is presented. The code is different for single and double carriers, however for most traits double carriers are not viable.

More information about genetic traits is available on the NAV homepage.

Feedback

You can send feedback through organizations web pages.