Genomics in Herds

1. Develop novel approach that optimizes the use of genomic information in admixed or small breeds and breed crosses.
2. Find an optimal model and computational approach for large scale single-step evaluations implementable for the routine Nordic cattle evaluations
3. Suggest a multi-trait genomic model that offers an unbiased information flow from accurately measured traits (production traits) to the difficult or expensively measured health or functional traits.

During the first phase of the project the single-step genomic evaluations have been extensively tested and developed. We have compared different evaluation parametrizations, and their effect on reliability and information bias. The approachces for attaining computational solutions have been developed and implemented.
Project has yielded first versions of single-step genomic evaluations for Nordic Test-Day evaluations (milk, protein and fat) and female fertility evaluations.