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April 29, 2016

Executive Summary from the Interbull Steering Committee

During the first four months of 2016, the following meetings have been conducted by Interbull:

• A meeting by the Interbull-ICAR Task Force on 3 February 2016 (Verona, Italy);
  

• A Strategic Planning meeting on 4-5 February 2016 (Verona, Italy);
  

• An Interbull Steering Committee meeting on 5 February 2016 (Verona, Italy);
  

• An Interbull Steering Committee meeting by conference call on 11 April 2016;

• Various conference calls by the GenoEx-PSE Services Implementation Task Force and the Interbull-ICAR Task Force.
  
  This document contains an executive summary of key decisions during these meetings.
  
  Strategic Planning
  The Interbull Strategic Planning meeting involved the Interbull Steering Committee, Interbull Centre Managers, and representatives of the Scientific Advisory Committee, ICAR Board and Interbeef Working Group, and addressed The Interbull vision, mission, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; and key strategic areas, with specific attention to ‘strategy into action’ during 2016 and 2017. The outputs of the meeting will be documented in a draft Interbull Strategic Plan, which will be circulated for consultation amongst Interbull Service Users during 2016. The final plan will be presented during the Interbull Business Meeting on 24 October 2016 in Chile.
  
  MACE and GMACE
  Requirements of MACE test and routine runs, and GMACE test-run have been clarified, and updated policies and procedures have been submitted to the National Genetic Evaluation Centres (NGECs). The policy regarding official publication of GMACE results that has been used till date left room for interpretation. The Interbull Steering Committee (in its meeting of February 2016) made a decision for clarification of GMACE publication rules, which was implemented in the April 2016 Routine Run. The most notable change is that NGECs will need to write, explain and justify to Interbull Centre why a bull that was previously published should not be published anymore. The details of the rules in their entirety, and a graph to explain the rules, have been communicated with the NGECs and are now included in the Interbull Code of Practice.
  
  New services
  A Genomics Exchange platform, “GenoEx” is currently being established at the Interbull Centre. Implementation of its first service, Parentage SNP Exchange or “GenoEx-PSE”, is under guidance of the GenoEX PSE Services Implementation Task Force and its Expert Group. The Task Force is making progress with the development of legal documentation, taking into account the different structures within various countries. An Expert Group provide technical recommendations to the Task Force. The launch of GenoEx-PSE is scheduled for October 2016 during the Interbull and ICAR meeting in Puerto Varas, Chile.
  Test/pilot runs for genetic evaluation of additional type traits for Brown Swiss are currently in progress in order to included these in routine runs once accepted. A new genomic evaluation of the Guernsey population (“InterGuernsey”), along the lines of the Brown Swiss’ Intergenomics, are being discussed.
  
  Additional information
  An Interbull-ICAR Operations Task Force has been established to review the synergies between Interbull and ICAR, and make recommendations for improved processes. This Task Force’s report will be presented at the ICAR-Interbull meeting in October 2016.
  Interbull Centre received the SS-EN ISO 9001: 2008 certification in January 2016 (www.interbull.org/ib/iso_certification_2016)
  The European Union Reference Laboratory for Zootechnics (Bovine Breeding) will also in 2016 and 2017 be hosted by the Interbull Centre in Uppsala.
  
  Details on future Interbull meetings and meetings of interest to the Interbull community are available through the Interbull website: www.interbull.org/ib/ibc_future_events The 2016 Interbull-ICAR programme is available: www.icar2016.cl/technical