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TrendTest Software

The trend validation procedures are described in the Interbull Code of Practice, https://wiki.interbull.org/public/CoP_AppendixIII?action=print.

Contents

  1. TrendTest Software
    1. Installation and testing
    2. Control File
      1. Usage notes
    3. Validation Method I
      1. TTCONVERT1.PY
        1. Warning
        2. How to run the program
      2. TRENDTEST1.PY
        1. Trendtest1 - How to run the program
        2. Trendtest1 - Editings
        3. Trendtest1 - Statistical test
        4. Trendtest1 - Log and Result File
    4. Validation Method II
      1. TRENDTEST2.PY
        1. Trendtest2 - How to run the program
        2. Trendtest2 - Editings
        3. Trendtest2 - Statistical test
        4. Trendtest2 - Log and Result File
    5. Validation Method III
      1. TTCONVERT3.PY
        1. Warning
        2. How to run the program
      2. TRENDTEST3.PY
        1. Trendtest3 - How to run the program
        2. Trendtest3 - Editings
        3. Trendtest3 - Statistical test
        4. Trendtest3 - Log and Result File
    6. Sending Results Back to Interbull Centre
      1. TTZIP.PY
        1. ttzip.py - How to run the program
  2. APPENDIX I
    1. Format305 for control files for the TrendTest software
  3. APPENDIX IIa
    1. APPENDIX I - Format File300-EBV and File700-GEBV
  4. APPENDIX IIb
    1. Format302 for Submission of validation method II
  5. APPENDIX IIc
    1. Format303 for data file for validation method III
  6. APPENDIX III
    1. TrendTest Merged Files
    2. File format merged1
    3. File format merged2
    4. File format merged3
  7. APPENDIX IVa
    1. Format311 for TrendTest results for method 1
  8. APPENDIX IVb
    1. Format312 for TrendTest results for method 2
  9. APPENDIX IVc
    1. Format313 for TrendTest results for method 3
  10. APPENDIX IVd
    1. Format for file bdate_POPBRD for validation methods
  11. Frequently Asked Questions

This software consists of two programs to convert legacy file formats to new formats (ttconvert1/3.py), three programs to perform trend validation by methods 1 - 3 (trendtest1-3.py), a program to combine the results across methods and prepare a zip file ready for submission to the Interbull Center (ttzip.py), and utility module used by those programs (ibutils.py). The conversion programs will process sets of legacy files (file01x and file04x) for all trait groups for a single breed and population of evalution and create a single set of files in a trait independent format. The remaining programs will perform the trend validation tests for all traits for one breed and population and then create a zip file with the input and output files, ready for submission to the Interbull Centre.

Note: In the future, organizations may prefer to prepare the data for the trendtest1-3 programs directly, bypassing the creation of the legacy file formats and the use of the ttconvert1/3.py programs. In this case organizations should also prepare an additional file, called bdate_POPBRD, containing a list of common international IDs between the file 300 and the relative trend data file used together with their birthdates. The format of the file is reported in Appendix IVd.

Installation and testing

The programs have been tested under Python 2.6, 2.7, 3.2 and 3.3. As a minimum you will need to have these extra python modules installed on your system: NumPy and, just for Python 2.6, argparse.

Download the attached trendtest20170210.zip file.

Create a working directory and unzip the zip file in that directory. Two subdirectories will be created, programs and sample_data. Typing, for example,

from a command line prompt, from within the programs directory, should print a brief help message if the installation has been successful.

Some sample data for breed HOL and population ABC are available in the sample_data directory. The two programs for method 1 can be run from the programs directory as follows: 

python ttconvert1.py -v -s'.abc' hol abc ../sample_data
python trendtest1.py -v -m hol abc ../sample_data

In this example data, parameters and output are all in the sample_data directory. Files can be read from other locations and output written to other locations as well. Please see the following sections for further information.

The outputs should match those in the source zip file.

Detailed descriptions of the single programs are given in the following sections.

Control File

Shortly after the beginning of each test run Interbull Centre will send a control file, called file305_POPBRD, to every organization that will have to provide validation results for a given population and trait, either because they are testing significant changes in their model or they are participating for the first time or because their last validation was conducted more than two years ago. The format of the file is available in APPENDIX I, and an example is presented below: 

#grp trt evaldate  herit     siresd gm x mh md byr1 miny maxy corr preval chg
uder scs 20130630 0.2240    0.38579 B- N 10 20 1981 1999 2003 0.99 09-may N
work msp 20130719 0.0890   26.23801 B+ N 10 20 1981 1999 2003 0.99 ------ Y

Usage notes

The siresd contained in the file is the MACE sire standard deviation as calculated in the current test run evaluation.
The fields preval and chg together give information of why validation is required:

Validation Method I

Definition: Comparison of genetic trends estimated using only first lactation versus all lactations in the routine national genetic evaluations.

Validation method I is taken care by the program trendtest1.py. The program reads in four files: File305_POPBRD (a control file sent by ITBC, see above) File300_POPBRD (alias file01x, see APPENDIX IIa), file300FL_POPBRD (a new file following the same format as file300 but pertaining to first lactation only, see APPENDIX IIa) and bdate_POPBRD, containing a list of common international IDs between the file 300 and the relative trend data file used together with their birthdates. The file bdate_POPBRD is automatically created when using the ttconvert programs. If ttconvert programs are no longer used by the user than such file needs to be manually created by the user. The format of the file is reported in Appendix IVd. In order to make the file format transition as smooth as possible, the program ttconvert1.py will take care of converting the legacy files format 01x into the new file format 300_POPBRD.

TTCONVERT1.PY

The program is located in the programs directory. Typing

will give you a small summary of the program usage: 

usage: ttconvert1.py [-h] [-v] [-s SUFFIX] [-e ENCODING] [-o OUTDIR]
                     brd pop datadir

positional arguments:
  brd                   evaluation breed code (BSW/GUE/JER/HOL/RDC/SIM)
  pop                   population code (same as country code except for
                        CHR/DEA/DFS/FRR/FRM)
  datadir               absolute or relative path to data files

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose         increase output verbosity
  -s SUFFIX, --suffix SUFFIX
                        suffix to add to all input file names, eg. ".usa" if
                        file names are like file010.usa (default=none)
  -e ENCODING, --encoding ENCODING
                        input file encoding (default=utf-8; try also
                        iso-8859-1 or other values listed at
                        http://docs.python.org/2/library/codecs.html#standard-
                        encodings)
  -o OUTDIR, --outdir OUTDIR
                        directory for output files (default=DATADIR)

Warning

How to run the program

Go to the programs directory and type:

In this example

TRENDTEST1.PY

Typing

within the programs directory will give you a small summary of the program usage: 

usage: trendtest1.py [-h] [-v] [-c CONTROLFILE] [-m] [-M MERGEDIR]
                     brd pop datadir
positional arguments:
  brd                   evaluation breed code (BSW/GUE/JER/HOL/RDC/SIM)
  pop                   population code (same as country code except for
                        CHR/DEA/DFS/FRR/FRM)
  datadir               absolute or relative path to data files
optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose         increase output verbosity
  -c CONTROLFILE, --controlfile CONTROLFILE
                        path/name of the control file
                        (default=DATADIR/file305_POPBRD)
  -m, --mergefiles      write merged data files (for independent data checks)
  -M MERGEDIR, --mergedir MERGEDIR
                        absolute or relative path for merged data files
                        (default=DATADIR/merged1)

Trendtest1 - How to run the program

Go to the programs directory and type:

In this example

Output files

The following files are written to the DATADIR or OUTDIR, if specified. All files have a _POPBRD suffix, so that multiple sets of output files for different breeds or population can co-exist in the same directory.

Trendtest1 - Editings

The program will read the four input files, file305_POPBRD, file300_POPBRD, file300FL_POPBRD and bdate_POPBRD, and apply some editings on the data such as only the following bulls will be selected for the test:

A merged file is created, called trt.csv (mil.csv for example), and placed under the DATADIR/merged1 directory, if not otherwise specified. The file can be used if you would like to do further investigation, the format of the file is available in APPENDIX III.

Trendtest1 - Statistical test

The statistical test for method I would be calculated as:

The criteria for passing the test will then be equal to:

Trendtest1 - Log and Result File

A logfile is created, called tt1_POPBRD.log, and placed under DATADIR, if not otherwise specified. The file presents a summary of the information taken in consideration for all the traits analysed, such as

A result file, called file311_POPBRD, will be created in the DATADIR, if not otherwise specified. The file contains an overall summary of the traits analysed, the settings used and the final outcome of the validation, an example is presented below: 

rec brd pop tgrp trt testdate pass testval      SDg bv    b_ALL    b_1ST bulls   stdALL   std1ST x byr1 mh md warnings
311 HOL ABC prod mil 20131024 FAIL   0.021  434.925 BV   48.409   39.246  5569  490.928  539.577 N 1986 10 20 LACT1_SCALE_WARNING

A detailed description of the format for file311_POPBRD is available in APPENDIX IVa

Validation Method II

Definition: Analysis of within bull yearly Daughter Deviations (e.g. Daughter Yield Deviations, DYD), hereafter referred to as DD

Validation method II is taken care by the program trendtest2.py. The program reads in four files: File305_POPBRD (a control file sent by ITBC, see above section Control File), File300_POPBRD (alias file01x, see APPENDIX IIa) , file302_POPBRD (a new file format for submission of DD records, see APPENDIX IIb) and bdate_POPBRD, containing a list of common international IDs between the file 300 and the relative trend data file used together with their birthdates, such file needs to be manually created by the user. The format of the file is reported in Appendix IVd.

TRENDTEST2.PY

Warning

Typing

within the programs directory will give you a small summary of the program usage: 

usage: trendtest2.py [-h] [-v] [-c CONTROLFILE] [-m] [-M MERGEDIR]
                     brd pop datadir

positional arguments:
  brd                   evaluation breed code (BSW/GUE/JER/HOL/RDC/SIM)
  pop                   population code (same as country code except for
                        CHR/DEA/DFS/FRR/FRM)
  datadir               absolute or relative path to data files

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose         increase output verbosity
  -c CONTROLFILE, --controlfile CONTROLFILE
                        path/name of the control file
                        (default=DATADIR/file305_POPBRD)
  -m, --mergefiles      write merged data files (for independent data checks)
  -M MERGEDIR, --mergedir MERGEDIR
                        absolute or relative path for merged data files
                        (default=DATADIR/merged2)

Trendtest2 - How to run the program

Go to the programs directory and type:

In this example

Output files

The following files are written to the DATADIR or OUTDIR, if specified. All files have a _POPBRD suffix, so that multiple sets of output files for different breeds or population can co-exist in the same directory.

Trendtest2 - Editings

The program will read the four input files, file305_POPBRD, file300_POPBRD, file302_POPBRD and bdate_POPBRD, and apply some editings on the data such as only the following bulls will be selected for the test:

A merged file is created, called trt.csv (mil.csv for example), and placed under the DATADIR/merged2 directory, if not otherwise specified. The file can be used if you would like to do further investigation, the format of the file is available in APPENDIX III.

Trendtest2 - Statistical test

The statistical test for method II would be calculated as:

The criteria for passing the test will then be equal to:

Trendtest2 - Log and Result File

A logfile is created, called tt2_POPBRD.log, and placed under DATADIR, if not otherwise specified. The file presents a summary of the information taken in consideration for all the traits analysed, such as

A result file, called file312_POPBRD, will be created in the DATADIR, if not otherwise specified. The file contains an overall summary of the traits analysed, the settings used and the final outcome of the validation, an example is presented below: 

rec brd pop tgrp trt testdate pass testval       b      SDg bv bulls   std_DD x byr1 mh md warnings
312 HOL ABC prod fat 20131017 PASS   0.009   0.185   21.496 BV   153   19.186 N 1986 10 20 none

A detailed description of the format for file311_POPBRD is available in APPENDIX IVb

Validation Method III

Definition: Analysis of official national predicted genetic merit variation across evaluation runs.

Validation method III is taken care by the program trendtest3.py. The program reads in four files: File305_POPBRD (a control file sent by ITBC, see above section Control File), File300_POPBRD (alias file01x, see APPENDIX IIa) , file303_POPBRD (alias file04x, see APPENDIX IIc) and bdate_POPBRD, containing a list of common international IDs between the file 300 and the relative trend data file used together with their birthdates. The file bdate_POPBRD is automatically created when using the ttconvert programs. If ttconvert programs are no longer used by the user than such file needs to be manually created by the user. The format of the file is reported in Appendix IVd. In order to make the file format transition as smooth as possible, the program ttconvert3.py will take care to convert the legacy files format 01x and file04x into the new file formats 300_POPBRD and 303_POPBRD.

TTCONVERT3.PY

The program is located in the programs directory. Typing

will give you a small summary of the program usage: 

usage: ttconvert3.py [-h] [-v] [-s SUFFIX] [-e ENCODING] [-o OUTDIR]
                     brd pop datadir

positional arguments:
  brd                   evaluation breed code (BSW/GUE/JER/HOL/RDC/SIM)
  pop                   population code (same as country code except for
                        CHR/DEA/DFS/FRR/FRM)
  datadir               absolute or relative path to data files

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose         increase output verbosity
  -s SUFFIX, --suffix SUFFIX
                        suffix to add to all input file names, eg. ".usa" if
                        file names are like fileC010f.usa (default=none)
  -e ENCODING, --encoding ENCODING
                        input file encoding (default=utf-8; try also
                        iso-8859-1 or other values listed at
                        http://docs.python.org/2/library/codecs.html#standard-
                        encodings)
  -o OUTDIR, --outdir OUTDIR
                        directory for output files (default=DATADIR)

Warning

How to run the program

Go to the programs directory and type:

In this example

TRENDTEST3.PY

Typing

within the programs directory will give you a small summary of the program usage: 

usage: trendtest3.py [-h] [-v] [-s SAMPLES] [-c CONTROLFILE] [-m]
                     [-M MERGEDIR]
                     brd pop datadir

positional arguments:
  brd                   evaluation breed code (BSW/GUE/JER/HOL/RDC/SIM)
  pop                   population code (same as country code except for
                        CHR/DEA/DFS/FRR/FRM)
  datadir               absolute or relative path to data files

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose         increase output verbosity
  -s SAMPLES, --samples SAMPLES
                        number of bootstrap samples (default=1000)
  -c CONTROLFILE, --controlfile CONTROLFILE
                        path/name of the control file
                        (default=DATADIR/file305_POPBRD)
  -m, --mergefiles      write merged data files (for independent data checks)
  -M MERGEDIR, --mergedir MERGEDIR
                        absolute or relative path for merged data files
                        (default=DATADIR/merged3)

Trendtest3 - How to run the program

Go to the programs directory and type:

In this example

Output files

The following files are wriiten to the DATADIR or OUTDIR, if specified. All files have a _POPBRD suffix, so that multiple sets of output files for different breeds or population can co-exist in the same directory.

Trendtest3 - Editings

The program will read the four input files, file305_POPBRD, file300_POPBRD, file303_POPBRD and bdate_POPBRD, and apply some editings on the data such as only the following bulls will be selected for the test:

A merged file is created, called trt.csv (mil.csv for example), and placed under the DATADIR/merged3 directory, if not otherwise specified. The file can be used if you would like to do further investigation, the format of the file is available in APPENDIX III.

Trendtest3 - Statistical test

The statistical test for method III would be calculated as:

The criteria for passing the test will then be equal to:

Trendtest3 - Log and Result File

A logfile is created, called tt3_POPBRD.log, and placed under DATADIR, if not otherwise specified. The file presents a summary of the information taken in consideration for all the traits analysed, such as

A result file, called file313_POPBRD, will be created in the DATADIR, if not otherwise specified. The file contains an overall summary of the traits analysed, the settings used and the final outcome of the validation, an example is presented below: 

rec brd pop tgrp trt testdate pass delta lower   upper stat testval biol      SDg  bv bulls    std_y    std_x x yyyy miny maxy  herit corr mh md nsamp warnings
313 HOL ABC conf sta 20131023 PASS 0.013 -0.001  0.027 PASS  0.023  FAIL     0.564 BV   581    0.463    0.328 N 2009 1991 1999 0.3700 0.86 10 20  1000

A detailed description of the format for file311_POPBRD is available in APPENDIX IVc

Sending Results Back to Interbull Centre

Once you have finished running the validation for all populations and traits you needed, using one or all validation methods, results need to be summarized and send back to the Centre. A program called ttzip.py will take care of that for you.

TTZIP.PY

Typing

within the programs directory will give you a small summary of the program usage: 

usage: ttzip.py [-h] [-C] brd pop datadir

positional arguments:
  brd            evaluation breed code (BSW/GUE/JER/HOL/RDC/SIM)
  pop            population code (same as country code except for
                 CHR/DEA/DFS/FRR/FRM)
  datadir        absolute or relative path to data files

optional arguments:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  -C, --cleanup  delete all files successfully added to the zip file

ttzip.py - How to run the program

Go to the programs directory and type:

In this example

Output file
The program will create a zip file called ttYYMM_POPBRD.zip (for example tt1310_ABCHOL.zip) containing the results for all validation methods for all populations available in DATADIR or OUTDIR, if specified. Please email the zip file ttYYMM_POPBRD.zip to Interbull Centre ( valentina.palucci@slu.se )

APPENDIX I

Format305 for control files for the TrendTest software

The file305_POPBRD files are prepared by ITBC early in a test run and distributed to the NGECs that need to perform conventional validation for at least one trait in a given population (POP) and breed of evaluation (BRD).

Col

Name

Format

Description

1

tgrp

char

Trait group code (prod/conf/uder/long/calv/fert/work)

2

trt

char

Trait code (seehere)

3

evaldate

int

National evaluation date (yyyymmdd; from param file uploaded to IDEA)

4

herit

float

Heritability (from param file uploaded to IDEA)

5

siresd

float

Sire SD estimated at ITBC in current test run

6

merit

char

Genetic merit definition (B+/B-/T+/T-)

7

type2x

char

Whether foreign bulls (with type of proof 21 or 22) should be included (Y/N)

8

min_hrd

int

Minimum herds to include a bull

9

min_dgh

int

Minimum daughters to include a bull

10

byr1

int

First birth year to include for method 1 (1986 for HOL, 1981 for others)

11

miny

int

First birth year to include for method 3

12

maxy

int

Last birth year to include for method 3

13

corr

int

Correlation between new and old evaluations for method 3 (R=0.99)

14

preval

char

Date of previous validation (yy-mon) for traits last validated more than two years ago

15

chg

char

Change code (Y/N): whether validation is required because population is included for first time or because large changes where introduced in national evaluations for this trait

Notes

  • BRD: breed of evaluation (BSW/GUE/HOL/JER/RDC/SIM)

  • POP: population code (see here)

  • there is a header line which will be skipped by the software
  • there is an extra space between all fields to allow the file to be easily parsed without needing to specify fixed column positions

Sample data records 

#grp trt evaldate  herit     siresd gm x mh md byr1 miny maxy corr preval chg
prod mil 20120101 0.2800  543.07922 B+ N 10 20 1986 1998 2002 0.98 ------ N
prod fat 20120101 0.2800   21.49578 B+ N 10 20 1986 1998 2002 0.98 ------ N
prod pro 20120101 0.2800   15.76838 B+ N 10 20 1986 1998 2002 0.98 ------ N
uder scs 20120101 0.1750   11.52474 B+ N 10 20 1986 1998 2002 0.98 ------ Y
conf sta 20120101 0.4500    0.95646 B+ N 10 20 1986 1998 2002 0.99 99-may N
conf usu 20120101 0.2100    0.90437 B+ N 10 20 1986 1998 2002 0.99 99-may N
conf loc 20120101 0.1200    1.00971 B+ N 10 20 1986 1998 2002 0.99 99-may N

APPENDIX IIa

APPENDIX I - Format File300-EBV and File700-GEBV

Col

Name

Start

Format

Description

Example

1

rec type

1

a3

Record type 1

300

2

brd_eval

5

a3

Breed of evaluation 2

HOL

3

pop

9

a3

Population code 3

USA

4

trt

13

a3

Trait of evaluation 4

mil

5

brd_anim

17

a3

Breed of animal

HOL

6

cou_orig

20

a3

Country of first registration

USA

7

sex

23

a1

Sex of animal

M

8

id_no

24

a12

Animal identification number

003000336289

9

typ_prf

37

i2

Type of proof 5

11

10

off_pub

40

a1

Official publicationof proof 6

Y

11

status

42

i2

Animal status 7

10

12

ndau

44

i8

Number of daughters 8

115

13

nhrd

52

i8

Number of herds 9

75

14

edc

60

i8

Number of effective daughter contributions 10

133

15

rel

69

f7.4

Repeatability/Reliability 11

82

16

ebv

76

f10.

National predicted genetic merit 12

2.780 

  IMPORTANT NOTE !!!!!

  In the old fileformat 01x-020 and 115, the national proofs were multiplied by a factor: (prod=100; conf=100;udder=1000;long=1000;calv=1000;fert=1000; fert=1000;work=1000).  This multiplication will no longer be needed.

  • 1Valid record types:

    • 300 for EBV
    • 700 for GEBV

  • 2Breed codes accepted:

    • BSW=Brown Swiss type; GUE=Guernsey type; HOL=Holstein-Friesian (Black & White) type; JER=Jersey type; RDC=Red Dairy Cattle type ; SIM=Simmental type.

  • 3Valid population codes: ARG AUS BEL CAN CHE CZE aDEA DEU bDFS ESP EST FIN FRA cFRM GBR HUN IRL ISR ITA JPN LTU LVA NLD NZL POL PRT SVN SVK SWE USA URY ZAF

    • where: a Austria+Germany; bDenmark + Finland + Sweden; c France Montbeliarde;

  • 4Accepted traits abbreviations:

    • Production ==> mil = milk;fat =fat; pro = protein;

    • Conformation ==> sta = stature;cwi = chest width;bde = body depth;ang = angularity;ran = rump angle;rwi = rump width; rls = rear-leg set;rlr = rear-leg rear view;fan = foot angle;hde = heel depth/hoof height; fua = fore udder attachment; ruh = rear udder height; ruw = rear udder width; usu = udder support;ude = udder depth;ftp = front teat placement;ftl = (front) teat length;rtp = rear teat placement;ous = overall udder score; ofl = overall feet&legs score; ocs = overall conformation score; bcs = body condition score; loc = locomotion;

    • Udder ==>scs = somatic cell; mas = mastitis

    • Longevity ==> dlo = direct longevity;

    • Calving ==> dce = direct calving ease;mce = maternal calving ease;dsb= direct stillbirth;msb = maternal stillbirth

    • Female fertility ==>hco = heifer conception;crc = cow recycling;cc1 = lactating cow's ability to conceive (1);cc2 = lactating cow's ability to conceive (2);int= internval traits

    • Workability ==> msp = milking speed;tem = temperament

    • SNP Training ==> cma = clinical mastitis

  • 5Accepted codes:

    • 00 (unknown);

    • 11 (based on first crop sampling daughters);

    • 12 (based on first and second crop daughters);

    • 13 (based on parent average and genomic information only);

    • 21(based on imported semen of proven bull, second crop daughters only);

    • 22 (based on mostly, more than 50%, imported daughters or daughters born from imported embryos.)

    • 23 (GEBV with foreign PA)

    • 24 (GEBV with foreign proof)

  • 6Accepted abbreviations:

    • Y (if bull proof meets national standards for official publication in the country sending information.);

    • P (if bull is part of a simultaneous progeny-testing program, but the proof does not yet meet national standards for official publication);

    • N (otherwise).

  • 7Valid codes for status of bulls:

    • 00(unknown);

    • 10(bull randomly sampled through an official AI scheme);

    • 15 (young bull, genomically tested, not yet selected for AI);

    • 20(other bull. Records with “20” in this file will be excluded from the international evaluation, unless type of proof is “21”).

  • 8Field for number of daughters should be positive. For missing value put 0.

  • 9Field for number of herds should be positive. For missing value put 0.

  • 10 Production, conformation, udder health, fertility, workability, and SNP training traits: Weighting factor used for these traits is “the effective daughter contribution (EDC)”, which is described In the Interbull document Code of practice, Appendix IV, “Weighting factor for international genetic evaluation”, updated April 27, 2004. EDC values should be rounded to the nearest integer value.

    • Calving: The weighting factors used for calving traits it the total number of calvings for the direct effects and number of daughters with calving for maternal effect

    • Longevity: The weighting factor used for longevity traits depends on the national genetic evaluation model. For linear models the weighting factor is the same as described above for conformation, fertility, production, udder health and workability traits. For survival models number of culled daughters is used as the weighting factor.

  • 11Reliability values are nationally calculated reliability values expressed in percents with 4 decimials. For missing value put 0.

  • 12National predicted genetic merit values published domestically. For threshold models the submitted values are from the underlying scale. For missing values put 9999999999. Please note! In the old fileformat 01x-020 and 115, the national proofs were multiplied by a factor: (prod=100; conf=100;udder=1000;long=1000;calv=1000;fert=1000; fert=1000;work=1000). This multiplication will no longer be needed.

APPENDIX IIb

Format302 for Submission of validation method II

Col

Name

Start

Format

Description

1

rec

1

a3

Record type (302)

2

brd

5

a3

Breed of evaluation

3

pop

9

a3

Population code (see here)

4

trt

13

a3

Trait code (seehere)

5

bullid

17

a19

International ID

6

calvyear

37

i4

calving year (YYYY)

7

ndau

42

i5

number of daughters

8

ave_DD

48

f10.4

average Daughter Yield Deviation

  • brd and pop must be in upper case
  • trt must be in lower case

APPENDIX IIc

Format303 for data file for validation method III

Record length = 90

Col

Name

Start

Format

Description

1

rec

1

a3

Record type (303)

2

brd

5

a3

Breed of evaluation (BSW/GUE/HOL/JER/RDC/SIM)

3

pop

9

a3

Population code (see here)

4

trt

13

a3

Trait code (see here)

5

bullid

17

a19

International ID

6

byear

37

i4

Bull's birth year

7

type_prf

42

i2

Type of proof

8

ndau

45

i7

Number of daughters in proof in YYYY-4

9

ebv

53

f9.3

National predicted genetic merit in YYYY-4

10

n1

63

i5

Number of daughters added in YYYY-3

11

n2

69

i5

Number of daughters added in YYYY-2

12

n3

75

i5

Number of daughters added in YYYY-1

13

n4

81

i5

Number of daughters added in YYYY

14

year1d

87

i4

Mean year of first calving of daughters in YYYY-4

Notes:

  1. starting columns allow for an extra blank between all fields
  2. brd and pop must be in upper case
  3. trt must be in lower case

  4. YYYY: year of the most recent routine genetic evaluation run whose results will be included in the international evaluation

  5. nd1-nd4: number of new (first calving) daughters considered in the last available national genetic evaluation in each year

  6. year1d: mean year of first calving of daughters on which the bull’s national evaluation in year YYYY-4 was based

    • This field is not currently used by the trendtest software because it is not uniformly supplied by all NGECs. The field can be set to '0000'. The software replaces year1d by byear+4.

APPENDIX III

TrendTest Merged Files

The trendtest programs offer an option (-m, --mergefiles) to create a file of merged 300/300FL; 300/302; 300/303 records as a convenience to the user. These files can make it easier to check for the correctness of the input datasets and they can be used perform additional checks and/or statistical analyses.

One file is created for each trait present in the file305_POPBRD. There is a record for each bull present in the file300 born in/after the cutoff year specified in the file305_POPBRD. Flags are supplied to indicate whether the bull qualifies for the analysis or not. Please see the file formats below.

By default, the files are created in directory DATADIR/merged(1,2,3). The merged files do not have a _POPBRD extension, so if you would like to create files for more than one population or breed, you should also supply the -M, --mergedir option with a different destination directory for each population/breed. The destination directory can be an absolute path, or it can be relative to the programs directory (eg. ../sample_data/my_merges). The directory will be created automatically if it does not exist.

File format merged1

The file is in comma-separated-variable (csv) format, using commas as the separator.

Column

Variable

Type

Description

1

aid

char(19)

animal ID

2

byear

int

Birth year

3

keep

char(1)

Bull qualifies for the analysis (Y/N)

4

top

char(2)

Type of proof (from file300)

5

off

char(1)

Official proof (Y/N; from file300)

6

sta

char(2)

Bull status (from file300)

7

AL

char(2)

Fixed separator for File300 records

8

nd

int

Number of daughters

9

nh

int

Number of herds

10

edc

int

EDC

11

rel

real

Reliability (x100)

12

ebv

real

Predicted genetic merit ("proof")

13

FL

cha(2)

Fixed separator for file300FL records

14

nd

int

Number of daughters

15

nh

int

number of herds

16

edc

int

EDC

17

rel

real

Reliability (x100)

18

ebv

real

Predicted genetic merit ("proof")

File format merged2

The file is in comma-separated-variable (csv) format, using commas as the separator.

Column

Variable

Type

Description

1

aid

char(19)

animal ID

2

byear

int

Birth year

3

top

char(2)

Type of proof (from file300)

4

off

char(1)

Official proof (Y/N; from file300)

5

sta

char(2)

Bull status (from file300)

6

f300

char(4)

Fixed separator for File300 records

7

nd

int

Number of daughters

8

nh

int

Number of herds

9

edc

int

EDC

10

rel

real

Reliability (x100)

11

ebv

real

Predicted genetic merit ("proof")

12

f302

cha(4)

Fixed separator for file302 records

13

year

int

year of calving

14

nd

int

number of daughters

15

dd

int

average Daughter Yield Deviation

16

nb

int

number of bulls

17

j

int

File format merged3

The file is in comma-separated-variable (csv) format, using commas as the separator.

Column

Variable

Type

Description

1

aid

char(19)

animal ID

2

byear

int

Birth year

3

keep

char(1)

Bull qualifies for the analysis (Y/N)

4

top

char(2)

Type of proof (from file300)

5

off

char(1)

Official proof (Y/N; from file300)

6

sta

char(2)

Bull status (from file300)

7

f300

char(4)

Fixed separator for File300 records

8

nd

int

Number of daughters

9

nh

int

Number of herds

10

edc

int

EDC

11

rel

real

Reliability (x100)

12

ebv

real

Predicted genetic merit ("proof")

13

f303

cha(4)

Fixed separator for file303 records

14

topx

char(2)

Type of proof

15

nx

int

Number of daughters

16

ebv

real

Predicted genetic merit ("proof")

17

n1

int

added daughters in YYYY-3

18

n2

int

added daughters in YYYY-2

19

n3

int

added daughters in YYYY-1

20

n4

int

added daughters in YYYY

21

year1d

int

Mean year of first calving of daughters in YYYY-4

22

t_i

real

time variate

23

w_i

real

weight

APPENDIX IVa

Format311 for TrendTest results for method 1

Col

Name

Format

Description

1

rec

char

Record type (311)

2

brd

char

Breed of evaluation (BSW/GUE/HOL/JER/RDC/SIM)

3

pop

char

Population code (see here)

5

tgrp

char

Trait group code (prod/conf/uder/long/calv/fert/work)

6

trt

char

Trait code (see here)

7

testdate

int

Date on which trendtest1 was run (yyyymmdd)

8

pass

char

PASS or FAIL

9

testval

float

Test value: abs(b_ALL - b_1ST)/SDg

10

SDg

float

Genetic standard deviation

11

bvta

char

Genetic merit (BV/TA)

12

b_ALL

float

Genetic trend from ALL lactation evaluations

13

b_1ST

float

Genetic trend from 1ST lactation evaluations

14

bulls

int

Number of bulls included in the test

15

stdALL

float

Raw std of ALL lactation evaluations

16

std1ST

float

Raw std of 1ST lactation evaluations

17

type2x

char

Whether foreign bulls (with type of proof 21 or 22) were included (Y/N)

20

byr1

int

First birth year of bulls included

18

min_hrd

int

Minimum herds for bulls included

19

min_dgh

int

Minimum daughters for bulls included

20

warnings

char

Codes for warnings (see log file for details)

Notes:

  • there is a header line which will be skipped by the software
  • there is an extra space between all fields to allow the file to be easily parsed without needing to specify fixed column positions

Sample records 

rec brd pop tgrp trt testdate pass testval      SDg bv    b_ALL    b_1ST bulls   stdALL   std1ST x byr1 mh md warnings
311 HOL ABC prod mil 20130930 PASS   0.006  543.079 BV   53.379   49.928   154  565.838  526.043 N 1986 10 20 none
311 HOL ABC prod fat 20130930 PASS   0.007   21.496 BV    1.084    0.943   154   18.614   18.003 N 1986 10 20 none
311 HOL ABC prod pro 20130930 FAIL   0.023   15.768 BV    1.513    1.157   154   15.979   16.561 N 1986 10 20 LACT1_SCALE_WARNING
311 HOL ABC uder scs 20130930 PASS   0.001   21.525 BV    0.106    0.095   154   10.698   10.572 N 1986 10 20 SDG_BV_WARNING

APPENDIX IVb

Format312 for TrendTest results for method 2

Col

Name

Format

Description

1

rec

char

Record type (312)

2

brd

char

Breed of evaluation (BSW/GUE/HOL/JER/RDC/SIM)

3

pop

char

Population code (see here)

4

tgrp

char

Trait group code (prod/conf/uder/long/calv/fert/work)

5

trt

char

Trait code (see here)

6

testdate

int

Date on which trendtest1 was run (yyyymmdd)

7

pass

char

PASS or FAIL

8

testval

float

Biological test value: abs(b)/SDg

9

b

float

Slope of regression of DD on year within bull

10

SDg

float

Genetic standard deviation

11

bvta

char

Genetic merit (BV/TA)

12

bulls

int

Number of bulls included in the test

13

std_DD

float

Raw std of daughter deviations (DD)

14

type2x

char

Whether foreign bulls (with type of proof 21 or 22) were included (Y/N)

15

byr1

int

First birth year of bulls included

16

min_hrd

int

Minimum herds for bulls included

17

min_dgh

int

Minimum daughters for bulls included

18

warnings

char

Codes for warnings (see log file for details)

Notes:

  • there is a header line which will be skipped by the software
  • there is an extra space between all fields to allow the file to be easily parsed without needing to specify fixed column positions

Sample records 

rec brd pop tgrp trt testdate pass testval       b      SDg bv bulls   std_DD x byr1 mh md warnings
312 HOL ABC prod mil 20131003 FAIL   0.014   7.346  543.079 BV   426  563.335 N 1986 10 20 none
312 HOL ABC prod fat 20131003 PASS   0.009   0.185   21.496 BV   426   19.186 N 1986 10 20 none
312 HOL ABC prod pro 20131003 PASS   0.001   0.022   15.768 BV   426   15.792 N 1986 10 20 none
312 HOL ABC uder scs 20131003 PASS   0.002   0.036   21.525 BV   402   10.598 N 1986 10 20 MISSING_BULLS

APPENDIX IVc

Format313 for TrendTest results for method 3

Col

Name

Format

Description

1

rec

char

Record type (313)

2

brd

char

Breed of evaluation (BSW/GUE/HOL/JER/RDC/SIM)

3

pop

char

Population code (see here)

4

tgrp

char

Trait group code (prod/conf/uder/long/calv/fert/work)

5

trt

char

Trait code (see here)

6

testdate

int

Date on which trendtest1 was run (yyyymmdd)

7

pass

char

PASS or FAIL

8

delta

float

Slope of regression on time variate (t)

9

lower

float

Lower limit of empirical 95% C.I. for delta

10

upper

float

Upper limit of empirical 95% C.I. for delta

11

stat

char

PASS or FAIL for statistical test

12

testval

float

Biological test value: abs(delta)/SDg

13

biol

char

PASS or FAIL for biological test

14

SDg

float

Genetic standard deviation

15

bvta

char

Genetic merit (BV/TA)

16

bulls

int

Number of bulls included in the test

17

std_y

float

Raw std of current evaluations (YYYY)

18

std_x

float

Raw std of previous evaluations (YYYY-4)

20

type2x

char

Whether foreign bulls (with type of proof 21 or 22) were included (Y/N)

21

yyyy

int

Current year of bulls included

22

miny

int

First birth year of bulls included

23

maxy

int

Last birth year of bulls included

24

herit

float

Heritability of the trait

25

corr

float

Correlation between previous and current evaluation methods (R)

26

min_hrd

int

Minimum herds for bulls included

27

min_dgh

int

Minimum daughters for bulls included

28

nsamp

int

Number of samples in bootstrap C.I.

29

warnings

char

Codes for warnings (see log file for details)

Notes:

  • there is a header line which will be skipped by the software
  • there is an extra space between all fields to allow the file to be easily parsed without needing to specify fixed column positions

Sample records 

rec brd pop tgrp trt testdate pass   delta    lower   upper stat testval biol      SDg bv bulls    std_y    std_x x miny maxy  herit corr nh nd nsamp warnings
311 HOL ABC prod mil 20130930 PASS -10.989  -64.504  82.308 PASS  -0.020 FAIL  543.079 BV    24  422.935  433.905 N 1998 2002 0.2800 0.98 10 20  1000 none
311 HOL ABC prod fat 20130930 PASS   0.939   -3.918   1.751 PASS   0.044 FAIL   21.496 BV    24   14.890   14.913 N 1998 2002 0.2800 0.98 10 20  1000 SDG_BV_WARNING
311 HOL ABC prod pro 20130930 PASS   0.138   -2.374   2.073 PASS   0.009 PASS   15.768 BV    24   12.349   12.363 N 1998 2002 0.2800 0.98 10 20  1000 none
311 HOL ABC uder scs 20130930 PASS   2.107   -1.713   3.901 PASS   0.098 FAIL   21.525 BV    22   12.587   12.043 N 1998 2002 0.1750 0.99 10 20  1000 SDG_BV_WARNING

APPENDIX IVd

Format for file bdate_POPBRD for validation methods

Record length = 28

Col

Name

Start

Format

Description

1

ID

1

a19

International ID (1)

2

birth date

21

i8

birth date

Note:

  1. International IDs in common between the proof file 300 and the relative trend data file used (either file300_FL, file302 or file303)
  2. This file needs to be created ONLY if the converting programs are no longer used, otherwise it will be automatically generated by them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What do I do if my default version of Python is too old?

A. Typing "python --version" at the command line prompt will show the version of the default Python interpreter on your system. If this is <2.6 or 3.0 or 3.1, you need to make sure Python version 2.6, 2.7 or >=3.2 is also installed on your system and then, for all the examples in this documentation, you need to substitute "python" with the complete path to the more recent Python version. For example, on Windows this might be "C:\Python3.3\bin\python3.3" and on linux it might be something like "/usr/local/bin/python3.3".

Q. I normally only submit results from validation method II, is there a converting file format I can use for my file01x?

A. If you wish to convert your file01x for applying validation method II you can use the program ttconvert1.py. The program requires as input file a file01xFL.cou: simply make a copy of your file01x.cou, name it file01xFL.cou and run the program. You can then ignore the converted File300FL_POPBRD.

Q. I run the ttconvert programs but no output are created

A. Be sure that the input files' names are correct. The following are the file names recognized by the ttconvert programs:

Also double check that the input files' formats is exactly as defined in our webpage http://www.interbull.org/ib/servicedocumentation

Q. I got the message: "warning: no DD records found" when running trendtest2.py, and no results are produced

A. This warning normally means that the file302 contains different POP BRD TRT then what specified in the file305. The warning may also occur if POP BRD and/or TRT are written in the file using a wrong case: POP and BRD must be upper case while TRT must be lower case.

public/TrendTest_Software (last edited 2017-02-10 13:59:03 by Valentina)