IMPROVING ACCURACY OF THE UNITED-STATES GENETICS DATABASE WITH A NEW EDITING SYSTEM FOR DAIRY RECORDS

A new editing system for records used to compute USDA-DHIA genetic evaluations was developed to allow immediate and more complete checking of data. The system uses direct (immediate on-line) access to pedigree and some lactation information to evaluate new data received. Birth dates are checked against parent birth dates and dam calving dates. For most conflicts, existing data are retained, and new data are returned for correction or verification. Records for early lactation can be edited monthly, and data disposition can be determined electronically on-line through telephone access prior to submission. For July 1993 evaluations, nearly 29,000 pedigree records were rejected out of 2.0 million submitted; over 19,000 others were usable after data received were changed to agree with previous information. The most frequent reasons for questionable data in rejected pedigree records were invalid codes or information and conflicts with existing information for animal, sire, and dam identification and animal birth date. Over 158,000 lactation records of 3.2 million submitted with sire identification were rejected; 319,000 others were usable after data were updated to agree with existing information. The four most common reasons for questionable data in rejected lactation records were conflicts for sire or dam identification and animal birth date and invalid sire identification. The new system will decrease turnaround time for correcting unacceptable records.