A new milestone was achieved on March 5. That’s when the 5 millionth individual genotype was recorded in the national dairy cooperator database.
This database of both genotypic and phenotypic — or animal performance — data was built through tremendous cooperation by dairy producers, industry organizations and the federal government over several decades. Since 2013, CDCB has managed this database, which has set the gold standard worldwide and is a strategic asset for U.S. dairy.
The first U.S. Holstein sires were genotyped in 2008. After seven years, the 1 millionth genotype was added to the national cooperator database in May 2015. Since then, the database has grown more rapidly as genomic testing has been readily adopted. In the most recent 12 months, 1 million animal genotypes have been submitted to the CDCB.
Genotyping of females has soared in recent years, as genomic evaluations have become an indispensable tool for mating, culling and herd management decisions in more herds worldwide. The vast majority — 90% of genotyped animals — in the CDCB database are female. By breed, 86% of all genotypes are Holstein and 12% are Jersey.
Source: CDCB