Three methods to validate the estimation of genetic trend for dairy cattle
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 21, 2026

Protocol for Assessing the Relative Effects of Environment and Genetics on Antler and Body Growth for a Long-lived Cervid
Published on: August 8, 2017
D Boichard1, B Bonaiti, A Barbat
1Station de Génétique Quantitative et Appliquée, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Jouy en Josas, France.
Abstract:
Three methods are proposed to validate the estimation of genetic trend for dairy cattle. With the first method, official evaluations, which are generally derived from a repeatability animal model applied to lactation records from several parities, are compared with evaluations based only on first parity to determine whether estimates of genetic trend are similar. With the second method, daughter yield deviations are analyzed within sire by calving year to determine whether these deviations remain stable over time. With the third method, variations of successive official evaluations are analyzed by regression to determine any systematic trend associated with information from additional daughters. Access to raw data is needed for the first two methods, but only published evaluations are needed for the third method. The three methods were applied to French Holstein evaluations calculated with 1990 and 1993 animal models and validated estimates of genetic trend based on information from the 1993 animal model.
Related Concept Videos
Hardy-Weinberg Principle
Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift
Genetic Drift
Distributions to Estimate Population Parameter
Data Validation
Key parameters for method validation include:
Rate of Change: Problem Solving

