¨
Interbeef Guidelines
Version 1
InterBeef
contact: Interbull Centre - Dept. Animal Breeding and Genetic SLU,
Box 7023 S-75007 Uppsala, Sweden
Phone: 0046-18-671994
Fax: 0046-18-672848
E-mail : interbeef@hgen.slu.se
URL : https://www.icar.org/index.php/technical-bodies/working-groups/interbeef-working-group/
Contents
-
Interbeef Guidelines
- 1. INTRODUCTION
- 2. THE ANIMAL INTERNATIONAL IDENTIFICATION
- 3. THE REQUIRED FILES
- 4. ABBREVIATIONS
- 6 FILENAMES
- REFERENCES
- README for CheckPedigree.py
- README for CheckLinks.py
1. INTRODUCTION
Countries willing to join InterBeef must be members of Interbull and support the ICAR guidelines for data collection (http://www.icar.org/). This document is a description of the necessary actions and relevant files required by a new country willing to join InterBeef.
2. THE ANIMAL INTERNATIONAL IDENTIFICATION
2.1 Format
A unique international identification for each animal is used in the international genetic evaluation system and will be referred to as the Animal International IDentification (AIID). The AIID is constructed using the Interbull rules (referred as Interbull format in the document) and its structure is:
Breed + Country + Sex + Identification number
The field ‘Breed‘ of the AIID refers to the breed of identification of the animal in its country of first registration (in most cases, the country of origin): 3 characters as defined in the Interbull Breed Codes, available at www.interbull.org (see Reference section).
The field ‘Country’ of the AIID refers to the country of first registration of the animal (in most cases, the country of origin): 3 characters or 3 digits number as defined in ISO 3166 Codes, available at http://userpage.chemie.fu-berlin.de/diverse/doc/ISO_3166.html (see Reference section).
The field ‘Sex’ of the AIID refers to the sex of the animal (M = male ; F = female)
The field ‘Identification number’ of the AIID refers to the identification number of the animal in the country of first registration: 12 characters right justified with left blanks filled in with zero (“0”).
Ex: CHAFRAM006327826864 refers to
- A Charolais CHA
- First registered in France FRA
- A male M
- With the following identification in France 006327826864
Ex: BAQIRLF125693456875 refers to
- A Blonde d’Aquitaine BAQ
- First registered in Ireland IRL
- A female F
- With the following identification in Ireland 125693456875
2.2 Constructing the international identification number
A country should first construct the international identifications for the animals born on its soil. The general rule for this construction would be that a given identification number is unique within a country and a breed.
When an animal (live animal or issued from AI straw or embryo) is sold abroad, the importing country should avoid re-registration; in case of re-registration the original ID and the national ID should be kept.
The animal ‘IE231112150014’ is, for example, a pure breed Irish limousine female named ‘SHRIFFTOWN RIPPER’. Ireland has constructed its AIID as followed: LIMIRLF231112150014.
The animal ‘FR0384106449’ is a pure breed French Charolais bull named ‘VLADIMIR’. That animal is also used in Ireland under the name ‘VLADIMER’ and the number ‘0384106449’ and has also been re-codified ‘108376849’ and ‘VLR’. France constructs its AIID as followed: CHAFRAM000384106449.
In the international identification number, hyphens, slashes, commas, dots, blank spaces or any other symbols are allowed.
The animal ‘UK9373 70-2/-7’, for example, is a UK Salers female animal and its international identification number would be ‘SALGBRF9373 70-2/-7’
2.3 The New Web Interface at Interbull
Interbull has developed a new database, IDEA (Interbull Data Exchange Area) that allows register users to all the pedigree handling functionalities. IDEA is available at https://idea.interbull.org/
IDEA is exclusive for database users. To become a database user you need to belong to a national evaluation centre participating to the Interbeef evaluation. If you want to join the Interbeef evaluation and therefore have access to IDEA, your national genetic centre needs to be associated to a username and a contact email address. To get your national genetic centre listed among the ones participating to the Interbeef evaluation, you have to:
Send an email to interbeef@hgen.slu.se providing information on your national genetic centre: Full name and address of the organization and full name and email address of the designated contact person. Clearly state the breed(s) and trait(s) you wish to participate with. If your organization provides data as a joint evaluation including other countries, you clearly have to state for which other countries and breed(s) your organization provides pedigree and performance information.
Upon reception of your request, Interbull will send you by email a link to an IDEA-test environment together with a username and password so that you will be able to get acquainted with the IDEA functionalities and the user manual which is located under “Help”.
The national pedigree file must be first checked with the CheckPedigree.py script provided by Interbull Centre. The checking programs are available under “Software”. The zip files produced by the Python scripts represent the only valid infiles for the database; no other files will be accepted by the system.
When your pedigree enters the database it undergoes a series of checks called “verification process” aiming at identifying the correct authoritative organization of each and every animals listed in your pedigree. In general the system has been built in such a way that it accepts information only if these comes from the authoritative organization. Therefore, whenever you submit pedigree data, the system first checks that the combination “country-breed” in the animal ID matches with the combination your organization “owns”. If so the records are considered correct and stored in the database, if this is not the case then the records will be listed in the appropriate authoritative organization account waiting for verification, i.e. waiting for the authoritative organization to provide the correct pedigree information. In case the authoritative organization is a country or organization that does not yet participate to the Interbeef evaluation, then the animals will appear as verified by Interbull until eventually that country/organization would join the service.
Example:
Ireland submits the following pedigree records to the database:
601 CHAIRLM458962315289 CHAIRLM789456123652 CHAIRLF369852147852 1985 OMAR IRL
601 CHAFRAM865412398745 CHAFRAM231658479851 CHAFRAF845693274125 1988 OSCAR IRL
In the first case the animal is an Irish Charolais sent by Ireland. Ireland is therefore the authoritative organization for that animal so the record gets stored in the database. In the second case the animal appears to be a French Charolais sent by Ireland. Ireland is no longer the authoritative organization for this bull therefore the system will send the record to the French account and will wait for France to provide its correct pedigree information.
3. THE REQUIRED FILES
There are 5 groups of files to be created by a country willing to join the international beef genetic evaluation:
- The 601 file representing the national pedigree file
- The 602 file representing the national performance file (limited until now to adjusted weaning weights, adjusted carcass weight and calving ease)
- The 603 file representing the parameter file.
- The 604 file representing the ET file
- The 605 file representing animals with official proof
- The Beef Form, see Reference section.
A country willing to join InterBeef needs to include at least one breed and one trait in the process of the international genetic evaluation. The objective of the present document is to help a new member country in the construction of these files.
NB: Since the verification of the International ID is done via database, national cross-reference files are no longer needed. For more information about IID verification, please refer to the IDEA user manual.
3.1 General
3.1.1 The Different InterBeef steps
The construction of these files follows several steps:
The first step for a country that wishes to join the international evaluation system is to upload the pedigree file into the IDEA database (https://idea.interbull.org/).
- Once the pedigree file (601) is uploaded into the database, the country will have to correct its own database according to the feedback obtained from the database regarding verified pedigree information from authoritative organizations. (see corrected foreign information in the IDEA user manual)
Once this step has been fulfilled then countries will proceed sending performance file (file 602), parameter file (file 603) and eventually an ET file (file 604) to the Interbull ftp server.
3.1.2 General principles for file preparation:
- Numeric information must be right justified.
- Characters must be left justified.
- All characters should be in upper case.
3.2 Fileformats
3.2.1 The national pedigree file (601 file)
3.2.1.0 General
The 601 file is a national pedigree file and must contain pedigree information of all animals included in the performance file in an animal-sire-dam format. Sires, dams and ancestors must also have an entry in this file as an animal; unknown ancestors should be coded ‘UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU’.
To ensure sufficient pedigree information it is recommended that pedigree information of animals born within a period equivalent to a minimum of three generation intervals should be included. The 601 file is a file issued per country or organization providing pedigree information according to the format shown in Table 1. The 601 files can contain one breed or multiple breeds.
3.2.2.1 Fileformat pedigree file
Table 1: 601 file format (total length = 107)
Field description |
Label |
Format |
Start |
|
Length |
|
Statusa |
Note |
Example |
|
Record type |
RTYPE |
Char |
|
1 |
|
3 |
M |
|
601 |
|
International ID of ANIMAL |
||||||||||
Breed of the animal |
ABREED |
Char |
|
5 |
|
3 |
M |
I |
LIM |
|
Country of birth |
AIDC |
Char |
|
8 |
|
3 |
M |
II |
FRA |
|
Sex |
ASEX |
Char |
11 |
|
1 |
M |
III |
F |
|
|
ID code of the animal |
AID |
Char |
12 |
12 |
M |
IV |
008795005065 |
|||
International ID of Animal’s SIRE |
||||||||||
Breed of the sire |
SBREED |
Char |
25 |
|
3 |
O |
I |
LIM |
|
|
Country of birth |
SIIDC |
Char |
28 |
|
3 |
O |
II |
FRA |
|
|
Sex |
SSEX |
Char |
31 |
|
1 |
O |
III |
M |
|
|
ID code of the sire |
SIID |
Char |
32 |
12 |
O |
IV |
000095015085 |
|||
International ID of Animal’s DAM |
||||||||||
Breed of the dam |
DBREED |
Char |
45 |
|
3 |
O |
I |
LIM |
|
|
Country of birth |
DIIDC |
Char |
48 |
|
3 |
O |
II |
FRA |
|
|
Sex |
DSEX |
Char |
51 |
|
1 |
O |
III |
F |
|
|
ID code of the dam |
DIID |
Char |
52 |
12 |
O |
IV |
001111001111 |
|||
Additional information |
||||||||||
Date of birth of animal |
BDATE |
Int |
65 |
|
8 |
O |
V |
|
20010130 |
|
Name of animal |
NAME |
Char |
74 |
30 |
O |
|
Faust |
|
||
Country sending information |
RCOU |
Char |
105 |
|
3 |
M |
II |
FRA |
|
aStatus: M = Mandatory, O = Optional
Note |
|
I |
The field ‘Breed‘ of the AIID refers to the breed of identification of the animal in its country of first registration (in most cases, the country of origin): 3 characters as defined in the Interbull Breed Codes, |
II |
The field ‘Country’ of the AIID refers to the country of first registration of the animal (in most cases, the country of origin): 3 characters or 3 digits number as defined in ISO 3166 Codes, available at https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#search |
III |
Sex : M for Male, F for Female only |
IV |
The field ‘Identification number’ of the AIID refers to the identification number of the animal in the country of first registration: 12 characters right justified with left blanks filled in with zero (“0”). |
V |
YYYYMMDD format |
3.2.2 The performance file (602)
3.2.2.0 General
All animals with a performance must have a line as animal in the 601 pedigree file. The performance file must be constructed in agreement with the 601 file and be consistent with the international identification of the animal.
It is expected that countries participating with data support the ICAR guidelines for beef recording.
As indicated in the ICAR recommendations, any group of animals kept for the same purpose and at the same location shall be regarded as a whole herd. For a performance record to be considered an official record, the whole herd as defined above must be recorded. Each herd is identified with 15 digits identification, coded as characters:
- The first three digits correspond to the country, using the ISO 3166 Alpha-3 system, see Reference section.
- The next 12 digits correspond to the identification of the herd within the country. The original herd identification number should be used. The characters (letters or numbers) are right justified, the left blanks being filled with zeros.
All performance traits are associated with their environmental effects and complementary information (one observation line per measurement) as described in Table 2.
3.2.2.0.1 Crossbreed animals
At the combined Interbeef Technical- and Working group meeting in Padova, Italy, the 11:th - 12:th of October it was decided to include crossbreed animals in the animal weaning weight evaluation for all breeds of evaluation (HER,AAN,BSM, LIM and CHA). This means that performance records for crossbreed animals in the performance file will be included in the international genetic evaluation. A calf with sire breed = breed of evaluaiton (i.g LIM,CHA, BSM,HER or AAN) and dam breed = any other breed is considered to be cross breed and should have breed code XXX (i,g XXXIRLM123456122333). The pedigree records for the crossbreeds should be uploaded in IDEA as usual.
3.2.2.1 Special information for calving traits
Calving traits present a direct and a maternal component. For some traits, such as stillbirth and birth weight preparation of a file602 can be difficult because of the absence of an international ID for a dead calf. Given that Interbeef is an international data sharing platform, it is absolutely necessary that records are exchanged in a standardized way and that data quality must be ensured at the best of our capacity. Based on these two principles, there is a strong intention to keep phenotypic records under an universal formats capable of handling all possible traits (files 602 and 603). Likewise, only valid international animal idetification is admitted into the system (file 601).
Phenotypic records for calving traits will therefore be reported as maternal traits (the International ID of ANIMAL in the file602 will refer to the dam ID) with the necessary information to fit a model for the direct trait added in the "environmental effects" fields of file 602. This includes additional information about the calf, such as sire of the calf, sex of the calf, calf birth date and calf ID (when available). Consider, for instance a record for calving ease (cae). In file 602, a typical record could be reported as shown in Table 2 and in session "Examples performance and parameter files" - calving traits
When calf additional information is reported in File602 (Table 2), the equivalent parameter File603 should also refer to the same variables. Although calf additional information is reported in the "environmental effects" field, it is not necessarily intended to be fit as an effect into the statistical model for the maternal trait. Since records on file 602 refer do the CALF DAM, in the parameter file the type of effects refer to the model for the maternal trait only. Therefore, variables that are reported in File602 to be used in the direct trait model should be labeled as "C" in the effect type field, so it is clear they are not fixed or random effects, neither covariates in the maternal trait model.
In the example in session "Examples performance and parameter file" for calving traits, calf sex, parity, season and age at calving are included as a fixed effects (effect type "F" in File603), while calf sire, calf birthdate and calf ID are labelled as effect type "C", which means they will not be fitted in the maternal trait model, but used for modelling the direct effect. For instance, calf ID, calf sire and calf birthdate would be needed to create a pedigree structure for the direct trait analyses.
3.2.2.2 Fileformat performance file
Table 2: Performance file (602 file format – all fields are mandatory)
Field description |
Label |
Format |
Starting byte |
Ending byte |
Fielda |
Note |
Example aww |
Example cae |
Record type |
RTYPE |
Char |
1 |
3 |
3 |
|
602 |
602 |
Trait |
FCODE |
Char |
5 |
7 |
3 |
I |
AWW |
CAE |
Breed of evaluation |
EBREED |
Char |
9 |
11 |
3 |
II |
LIM |
LIM |
Country sending information |
RCOU |
Char |
13 |
15 |
3 |
III |
FRA |
FRA |
International ID |
Referring to the animal itself |
Referring to the dam of the calf |
||||||
Breed of the animal |
ABREED |
Char |
17 |
19 |
3 |
II |
LIM |
LIM |
Country of birth |
AIDC |
Char |
20 |
22 |
3 |
III |
FRA |
FRA |
Sex |
ASEX |
Char |
23 |
23 |
1 |
IV |
F |
F |
ID code of the animal |
AID |
Char |
24 |
35 |
12 |
V |
008795005065 |
008795005065 |
|
||||||||
Twinning |
TWI |
Int |
37 |
37 |
1 |
VI |
1 |
1 |
Embryo transfer |
ET |
Int |
39 |
39 |
1 |
VII |
0 |
1 |
Herd |
HERID |
Char |
41 |
55 |
15 |
VIII |
FRA000123456789 |
FRA000123456789 |
Dependent variable |
Y |
Int |
57 |
66 |
10 |
IX |
245 |
0 |
Number of environmental effects included in the national model |
NENV |
Int |
68 |
70 |
3 |
XI |
4 |
4 |
Environmental effect (n)b |
ENV(n) |
Char |
72 |
|
20 |
XII |
2 |
|
b Repeat this field n times (n = 1,…,NENV), adding one (1) empty space between fields; contemporary group should come as the first effect
Notes |
|
I |
|
II |
See Reference section for Breed codes |
III |
See Reference section for Country codes – ISO 3166 Alpha-3 |
IV |
Sex : M for Male, F for Female only; U for unknown |
V |
Identification Number in Interbull Format : Alpha-numeric codes only, Right justified, Left blanks being filled with '0' |
VI |
1 = single birth ; 2 = twin birth |
VII |
0 = no ET ; 1 = ET |
VIII |
Herd identification number corresponding to the herd included in the contemporary group. Format: 3 character country code + 12 digits |
IX |
Value observed for the trait in question. |
XI |
Defines the remaining number of fields in the record. Additional fields = NENV |
XII |
Value of the respective environmental effect for the current record. contemporary group (CG) should come as the first effect for both calving and weaning weight and then comes the trait specific env. effects |
3.2.3 Parameter file (603)
3.2.3.0 General
The parameter file (603) contains the name of two variables and the names of the environmental effects for each trait included in the performance file (602). This file must be provided together with the 602 file.
3.2.3.1 File format parameter file
Table 3: Parameter file (603 file format) – one record per trait-breed combination (all fields are mandatory)
Field description |
Label |
Format |
Starting byte |
Field Lengtha |
Note |
Example aww |
Example cae |
Record type |
RTYPE |
Char |
1 |
3 |
|
603 |
603 |
Trait |
FCODE |
Char |
5 |
3 |
I |
AWW |
CAE |
Breed of evaluation |
EBREED |
Char |
9 |
3 |
II |
LIM |
LIM |
Country sending information |
RCOU |
Char |
13 |
3 |
III |
FRA |
FRA |
Reference age or class |
REF |
Int |
17 |
5 |
IV |
200 |
99999 |
Trait heritability |
H2 |
Int |
23 |
3 |
V |
25 |
10 |
Minimum number of observation per CG |
CGN |
Int |
27 |
10 |
|
5 |
5 |
Twins |
TWIN |
Char |
38 |
1 |
VIII |
Y |
Y |
Maternal (genetic) effect fitted in the model |
DAM |
Char |
40 |
1 |
VIII |
N |
N |
Maternal permanent environmental effect fitted in the model |
MPE |
Char |
42 |
1 |
VIII |
N |
N |
Permanent environmental effect fitted in the model |
PEV |
Char |
44 |
1 |
VIII |
Y |
Y |
Number of environmental effects included in the national model |
NENV |
Int |
46 |
3 |
IX |
4 |
7 |
Environmental effect (n)b |
ENV(n) |
Char |
50 |
20 |
X |
HY |
HYS |
How ENV(n) is fitted in the model (type of effect)b |
ENVT(n) |
Char |
71 |
1 |
VII |
F |
F |
b Repeat these fields n times (n = 1,…,NENV), adding one (1) empty space between fields; contemporary group should come as the first effect
Notes
|
|
I |
|
II |
See Reference section for Breed codes |
III |
See Reference section for Country codes – ISO 3166 Alpha-3 |
IV |
Reference value (age or class) used to adjust the dependent variable. Ex. reference national weaning age = 200 days. For missing values use 99999. |
V |
Trait heritability used in the national evaluation, expressed in a scale from 1-100 |
VII |
Describes if the effect should be fitted as a fixed effect, a random effect or as a covariable in the model. Use the type of effect codes in Table 4 (abbreviations) For calving : Variables that are reported in File602 to be used in the direct trait model should be labeled as "C" in the effect type field, so it is clear they are not fixed or random effects, neither covariates in the maternal trait model. |
VIII |
Declare if this specific effect (TWIN,DAM, MPE or PEV) is fitted into the national model (Y = yes; N = no) |
IX |
Defines the remaining number of fields in the record. Additional fields = 2*(NENV) |
X |
Describes the nth environmental effect:Use the environmental effect codes in Table 5 (abbreviations). In case the trait is not yet included on Table 4, describe it briefly (20 characters) In case of polynomial effects, use the effect code followed by the order. Ex. (SEAS)2 should be coded SEAS2 In case of interactions, combine the effect codes in the same field. Ex. (AAWG)*(ASEX) should be coded as AAWGASEX |
Examples performance and parameter files
Animal weaning weight
Example performance file for aww: 602 AWW LIM CZE LIMCZEM000000181517 1 0 CZE008101626410 266 4 13118 1 3 1995 The related paramter file (603) to the performance file (602) above should look like this: 603 AWW LIM CZE 210 11 1 N Y Y N 4 CG R ASEXTWIN F Age_of_Dam F Birth_Year F Explanation 602 file for aww: 602 = record type; AWW= trait; LIM=breed; CZE= country sending information; LIMCZEM000000181517=aid; 1=twin_info; 0=et_info ;CZE008101626410= herdid; 266=dependent_variable; 4= number of env. effects (should be the same as the number of env. effects in the parameter file (603); 13118=env. effect 1 which should be related to the env. effect 1 in the 603 file (in this case HYS), 1= env. effect 2 which should be related to the env. effect 2 in the 603 file (in this case ASEXTWIN); 3= env. effect 3 which should be related to env. effect 3 in the 603 file (in this case Age_of_Dam); 1995= env. effect 4 which should be related to the to env. effect 4 in the 603 file (in this case Birth_Year) Explanation 603 file: 603 = record type; AWW=trait; LIM=breed; CZE= country sending information; 210=reference age or class; 11= trait heritability; 1= Minumum number of observations per CG; N=twin info; Y=Maternal (genetic) effect fitted in the model ; Y=Maternal permanent env. effect fitted in the model; N= Permanent env.effects included in the national model; 4= number of env. effects (should be same number as in the performance file 602); HYS=env.effect1 which is related to the env.effect 1 in the performance file; R= How env. effect is fitted into the model(type of effect); ASEXTWIN=env. effect2 which is realted to the env.effect 2 in the performance file; F=how env. effect nr 2 is fitted in to the model; Age_of_Dam=env.effect3 which is realted to env effect 3 in the performance file; F=how env. effect nr 3 is fitted in to the model; Birth_Year= env effect nr 4 which is related to the env effect 4 in the performance file; F=how env. effect nr 4 is fitted in to the model
Cavling traits
Example performance file for cae: 602 CAE LIM CZE LIMCZEF000000260705 1 0 CZE008101626410 1 8 18256 LIMFRAM001984004136 1 19950401 LIMCZEM000000181517 1 3 1995 Explanation 602 file for cae: 602 = record type; CAE= trait; LIM=breed; CZE= country sending information; LIMCZEM000000181517=aid (referring to the dam of the calf); 1=twin_info(related the the calf); 0=et_info (related the the calf) ;CZE008101626410= herdid; 1=dependent_variable; 8= number of env. effects (should be the same as the number of env. effects in the parameter file (603); 18256=env. effect 1 which should be related to the env. effect 1 in the 603 file (in this case HYS), LIMFRAM001984004136= env. effect 2 which should be related to the env. effect 2 in the 603 file (in this case CASI); 1= env. effect 3 which should be related to env. effect 3 in the 603 file (in this case CSEX ==> 1=Male, 2=Female,3=Unknown); 19950401= env. effect 4 which should be related to the to env. effect 4 in the 603 file (in this case CABI); LIMCZEM000000181517 =env.effect 5 which should be related to env.effect 5 in the 603 file(in this case CAID ) ; 1= env. effect 6 which should be related to the env.effect 6 in the 603 file (in this case ASEXTWIN); 3=env.effect 7 which should be related to env.effect 7 in the 603 file(in this case Age_of_Dam); 1995 = env.effect 8 which should be related to env. effect 8 in the 603 file (in this case Birth_Year). 603 CAE LIM CZE 1 9 1 N Y Y N 8 CG R CASI C CSEX C CABI C CAID C ASEXTWIN F Age_of_Dam F Birth_Year F Explanation 603 file for cae: 603 = record type; CAE=trait; LIM=breed; CZE= country sending information; 1=reference age or class; 9= trait heritability; 1= Minumum number of observations per CG; N=twin info; Y=Maternal (genetic) effect fitted in the model ; Y=Maternal permanent env. effect fitted in the model; N= Permanent env.effects included in the national model; 8= number of env. effects (should be same number as in the performance file 602); HYS=env.effect1 which is related to the env.effect 1 in the performance file; R= How env. effect is fitted into the model(type of effect); CASI=env. effect2 which is realted to the env.effect 2 in the performance file; C=how env. effect nr 2 is fitted in to the model; CSEX=env.effect3 which is realted to env effect 3 in the performance file; C=how env. effect nr 3 is fitted in to the model; CABI= env effect nr 4 which is related to the env effect 4 in the performance file; C=how env. effect nr 4 is fitted in to the model; ASEXTWIN=env.effect nr 6 which is realted to the env.effect 6 in the performance file, F=how env. effect nr 4 is fitted in to the model; Age_of_Dam=env.effect 7 which should be related to env.effect in the performance file; F=how env. effect nr 4 is fitted in to the model; Birth_year= env. effect 8 which is related to env.effect 8 in the performance file; F=F=how env. effect nr 4 is fitted in to the model
3.2.4 ET file (604)
3.2.4.0 General
The ET file (604) contains a list of ET IDs which will be included in the pedigree used for the international evaluation. Country willing to get international breeding values for ET animals based on parent average will have to provide the file at each evaluation. This file is not a mandatory file. Please note: For calving traits, the embryo transfer field in the 602 file is related the the calf and not the the dam itself.
3.2.4.1 File format ET file
Table 4: 604 file format (total length = 27) ET file
Field description |
Label |
Format |
Start |
|
Length |
|
Statusa |
Note |
Example |
|
Record type |
RTYPE |
Char |
|
1 |
|
3 |
M |
|
604 |
|
International ID of ANIMAL |
||||||||||
Breed of the animal |
ABREED |
Char |
|
5 |
|
3 |
M |
I |
LIM |
|
Country of birth |
AIDC |
Char |
|
8 |
|
3 |
M |
II |
FRA |
|
Sex |
ASEX |
Char |
11 |
|
1 |
M |
III |
F |
|
|
ID code of the animal |
AID |
Char |
12 |
12 |
M |
IV |
8795005065 |
|||
Country sending information |
||||||||||
Country |
COU |
Char |
25 |
|
3 |
M |
I |
FRA |
|
aStatus: M = Mandatory, O = Optional
Note |
|
I |
See Reference section for Breed codes |
II |
See Reference Section for Country codes – ISO 3166 Alpha-3 |
III |
Sex : M for Male, F for Female only |
IV |
Identification Number in Interbull Format : Right justified, Leading blanks filled with Zero (“0”) |
3.2.5 OFCL file (605)
3.2.5.0 General
The OFCL file (605) contains a list of IDs of animals with official proof in the participating country. According to a new proposal for the publication policy, if the national proof of an animal is considered as official, the international predicted breeding value of the animal on the scale of that country would be publishable.
3.2.5.1 File format maternal and direct Official file
Table 5: 605 file format (total length = 31) Official file
Field description |
Label |
Format |
Start |
|
Length |
|
Statusa |
Note |
Example |
|
Record type |
RTYPE |
Char |
|
1 |
|
3 |
M |
|
605 |
|
International ID of ANIMAL |
||||||||||
Breed of the animal |
ABREED |
Char |
|
5 |
|
3 |
M |
I |
LIM |
|
Country of birth |
AIDC |
Char |
|
8 |
|
3 |
M |
II |
FRA |
|
Sex |
ASEX |
Char |
11 |
|
1 |
M |
III |
F |
|
|
ID code of the animal |
AID |
Char |
12 |
12 |
M |
IV |
8795005065 |
|||
National reliability |
||||||||||
Reliability |
REL |
Int |
25 |
2 |
|
|
65 |
|||
Status of bull |
STATUS |
Int |
28 |
2 |
M |
V |
05 |
|||
Country sending information |
||||||||||
Country |
COU |
Char |
31 |
|
3 |
M |
II |
FRA |
|
aStatus: M = Mandatory, O = Optional
Note |
|
I |
See Reference section for Breed codes |
II |
See Reference Section for Country codes – ISO 3166 Alpha-3 |
III |
Sex : M for Male, F for Female only |
IV |
Identification Number in Interbull Format : Right justified, Leading blanks filled with Zero (“0”) |
V |
00 = unknown |
4. ABBREVIATIONS
Table 6: List of abbreviations used in Interbull files and documentation
|
Type |
Abbreviation |
Meaning |
1 |
General concepts |
AI |
Artificial Insemination |
ET |
Embryo Transfer |
||
Kg |
Kilogram |
||
MGS |
Maternal Grandsire |
||
NS |
Natural Service |
||
Ib |
Pounds |
||
2 |
Genetic evaluation methods |
AM |
Animal Model |
BLUP |
Best Linear Unbiased Prediction |
||
FR |
Fixed Regression |
||
MT |
Multiple Traits |
||
RR |
Random Regression |
||
RP |
Repeatability (model) |
||
REML |
Rextricted Maximum Likelihood |
||
ST |
Single Trait |
||
SM |
Sire Model |
||
3 |
Estimates, values |
BW |
Breeding Worth |
c |
environmental correlation between records within sub-classes |
||
EBV |
Estimated Breeding Value |
||
ETA |
Estimated Transmitting Ability |
||
EPD |
Expected Progeny Difference |
||
ME |
mature Equivalent, records are adjusted to mature cow yield basis |
||
PD |
Predicted Difference |
||
PTA |
Predicted Transmitting Ability |
||
RBV |
Relative Breeding Value |
||
REL |
Reliability/Repeatability of a sire proof, given either in the scale between 0 and 1 or as percenta |
||
SD |
Standard Deviation |
||
SE |
Standard Error |
||
TMI |
Total Merit Index |
||
VAR |
Variance |
||
4 |
Population parameters |
rg |
Genetic correlation |
rp |
Phenotypic correlation |
||
h2 |
Heritability of a trait |
||
t |
Repeatability of trait |
||
5 |
Traits of Interest |
acw |
Adjusted carcass weight |
aww |
Adjusted weaning weight |
||
cae |
Calving Ease |
||
stb |
Stillbirth |
||
bwt |
Birth Weight |
||
pli |
Productive Life |
||
AFC |
Age first service |
||
CAI |
Calving interval |
||
NCA |
Number of calvings |
||
6 |
Type of effect |
X |
Covariable (expressed as a numerical variable in a continuous scale) |
F |
Fixed effect (class variable) |
||
R |
Random effect |
||
C |
Descriptive variable relative to the calf (alving traits), not to be included in the model |
||
7 |
Model definition |
CG |
Contemporary group, comparison group |
Y |
Dependent variable |
||
HYS |
Herd-Year-Season |
||
HY |
Herd-Year |
||
DAM |
Maternal effects |
||
MPE |
Maternal Permanent Environmental Effect |
||
PEV |
Permanent Environmental Effect |
||
8 |
Environmental effects |
AACA |
Age at calving |
PEV |
Permanent Environmental Effect |
||
AACA |
Age at calving |
||
AAWG |
Age at weighting |
||
AAEV |
Age at evaluation |
||
ASEX |
Sex of the animal |
||
CSEX |
Sex of calf |
||
BIRW |
Birth weight |
||
CLAS |
Classifier |
||
HERD |
Herd (renumbered) |
||
PARI |
Parity |
||
SEAS |
Season |
||
SLAH |
Slaughter house |
||
TWIN |
Twinning |
||
YEAR |
Calendar year |
||
9 |
Calf descriptive variables |
CASI |
Sire of the calf |
CSEX |
Sex of the calf |
||
CABI |
Calf birthdate |
||
CAID |
Calf ID |
6 FILENAMES
All transferred files should be written in ASCII format and use character encoding: UTF-8
Specifically for the pedigree files, organizations will find access in IDEA to two Python scripts, CheckPedigree.py and CheckLinks.py. Aim of these scripts is to assure that pedigree and linking information are correct prior entering the database environment. To run the script type at the prompt:
Python2.6 CheckPedigree.py –m {organization code(1)} –f {pedigree file name}
For more information about the CheckPedigree.py and the CheckLinks.py see Appendix I (a and b).
If the scripts detect no errors in the pedigree or link file then a zip file “IB-ORGCODE-yyyymmddThhmmss.zip.” or “IB202-org_code-yyyymmddThhmmss.zip” would be created. The zip file produced by the Python scripts represent the infile for the Interbull database; no other file would be accepted.
For the time being before the database would be ready to accept performance and parameter file the nomenclature for these types of files would be:
COUNTRY.BREED.FILE.TRAIT_TYPE.DATE(2)
For example, a file from Ireland with performance for Limousine sent on 2010-01-18 would be called: IRL.LIM.F602.AWW_20100118
A parameter file from the same country and breed would be called IRL.LIM.F603.AWW_20100118
(1) For the Org.Code, see Reference section. (2) date yyyymmdd format
REFERENCES
ISO 3166 Country Codes: http://userpage.chemie.fu-berlin.de/diverse/doc/ISO_3166.html
Breed Codes for International Genetic Evaluation of dairy and beef cattle: http://www.interbull.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=77
Guideline to Form Beef and Form_Beef: http://www-interbull.slu.se/Interbeef/General_info/framesida-general.htm
InterBeef link on Interbull website: http://www-interbull.slu.se/Beef_Gen_Ev/framesida-beef.htm
CheckPedigree.py will perform a series of checks on your pedigree data to insure that the data is all right. If no errors are detected then a zip file will be created. The zip file represents your checked pedigree file to upload to the Interbull Centre IDEA database. For technical reason the program rejects files containing more than a million of data. The checks relate to:
Install Python (Python3, minimum 3.6). Please note that Python2 is no longer supported by developers. Download the CheckPedigree.py program from https://idea.interbull.org/software and copy it to your new directory
Use the command: python CheckPedigree.py -m <ORGCODE> -f <filename> Use your uppercase ORGCODE as shown on the upper right hand side of the IDEA page.Your organization code is reported within brackets beside the "Logged in as" information. If you want to inspect a pedigree file containing more than a million record you can do so by adding a "-t" at the end of the command line. By doing so, your pedigree will be only tested for its correctedness but no output will be created. The command line to use will be therefore: python CheckPedigree.py -m <ORGCODE> -f <filename> -t
If no errors are detected, the pedigree file will be written into a zip file called IB-ORGCODE-yyyymmddThhmmss.zip. Upload the zip file to Interbull's data exchange site: https://idea.interbull.org/. In case of errors, no zip file will be created. Please correct your data and re-run the program until the data successfully pass all required checks. Specific information about your pedigree data, descriptive statistics and a summary of errors are written to the file CheckPedigreeLog.txt. All errors are listed in detail in the file called CheckPedigreeErrors.txt. The following table describes the brief error messages more fully: Error message Description Inconsistent duplicates An animal appears twice with different sire, dam or birth date Warning duplicates An animal appears twice but with same sire, dam and birth date Illegal character errors The numerical part of the international ID is not valid Breed-country error The breed-country combination is not recognized Sex coding error The sex code is neither M nor F Parent sex error A male animal (or a female) appears in the dam (or sire) column Birth date errors Malformed entry for birth date Ancestor check Animal appears older than its parents or grandparents Pedigree loops Animal appears further back in its pedigree tree as an ancestor of itself Too many animals detected For technical reason the number of pedigree lines that can be submitted in each file has been limited to 1 million. If your file exceeds such limit you need to split its content into two (or more) files and test each of them with the CheckPedigree.py program
Please do not modify the program to circumvent any checks. Doing so would be pointless because the same checking routine is used again inside IDEA to double-check the pedigree file uploaded in the zip file. If you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at interbull@slu.se . README for CheckPedigree.py
Information about the program:
Before Running the Program:
Running the Program:
After Running the Program:
- see file CheckPedigreeAuth.txt (created by the program)
- if a parent's birth date is unknown, grandparents are checked
Note
CheckLinks.py will perform a series of checks in your format 202 link file to ensure that the data is all right. If no errors are detected then a zip file will be created. The zip file represents your checked links file ready to upload to the Interbull Centre IDEA database. The checks relate to: Allowed breed-country combination
Install Python (Python3, minimum 3.6). Please note that Python2 is no longer supported by developers. Download the CheckLinks.py program from https://idea.interbull.org/software and copy it to your new directory
Use the command: python CheckLinks.py -m <ORGCODE> -f <filename> Use your uppercase ORGCODE as shown on the upper right hand side of the IDEA page.Your organization code is reported within brackets beside the "Logged in as" information.
If no errors are detected, the pedigree file will be written into a zip file called IB202-org_code-yyyymmddThhmmss.zip. Upload the zip file to Interbull's data exchange site https://idea.interbull.org/ In case of errors, no zip file will be created. Please correct your data and re-run the program until the data successfully pass all required checks. A summary of errors is written to the file CheckLinksLog.txt. All errors are listed in detail in the file called CheckLinksErrors.txt.
Please do not modify the program to circumvent any checks. Doing so would be pointless because the same checking routine is used again at the Interbull Centre to double-check the link file uploaded in the zip file. If you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at interbull@slu.se . README for CheckLinks.py
Information about the program:
- see file CheckLinksAuth.txt (created by the program) Before Running the Program:
Running the Program:
After Running the Program:
Note: