LIC has recently implemented updates to its animal evaluation systems to ensure your animal data is as accurate as possible. Some of the updates may be noticeable to you, so below is an explanation (a video explanation is also included, see below).
Here is what changed from Wednesday 18 September 2024:
1. New 'Days in Milk' calculation
Your animals' Days-in-Milk data will change, as LIC is aligning itself to the way this measure is calculated by the International Committee for Animal Recording Standards. This also means LIC will be aligned with how days-in-milk is calculated in Animal Evaluation and Genomic Evaluation.
As we make this change, you may notice an additional 1-2 days in milk on your animals' records, as well as additional litres and kgs of milk solids for the lactation.
2. New 'Lactation Value' and 'Lactation Worth' calculation
A new, up-to-date, and more-robust calculation is now being made to your animals' Lactation Value and Lactation Worth (LW).
Not only does the calculation provide a better assessment of your animals’ performance, it now better-aligns with BW and PW calculated from LIC’s monthly genomic evaluations.
Some farmers may be seeing LW results from their first herd test of the season which are more-extreme than they’ve seen in previous years, and this is totally expected.
But as more herd tests are done and the season progresses, you can expect the range of LWs in your herd to stabilise as more information becomes available.
It’s worth noting, while there is no concept of reliability with LW one should still acknowledge that an LW based on one HT is not the same as having a lactation of multiple herd tests.
There may be the odd LW outlier, due to errors during the herd test, or due to the early stage of the season when cows may, for example, be more prone to being sick, or still recovering from calving.
Some confusion may have arisen in reference to a 730-day calculation. The LW data you will see is based on the current season’s milking only (i.e. no data from previous season’s herd tests is being used to calculate your current season’s LW).
If there were outstanding queries on Herd Tests in previous seasons, which have since been cleared-up, LIC will re-calculate the previous season’s LW based on the resolution of the query.
So reference to the 730 days applies to retrospective fixes that will go as far back as the previous season’s LW (NB: there must be a recorded calving within the last 730 days, and there must be Herd Test data for the relevant lactation).
3. New method for assessing 'Abnormal Herd Test Results'
For animals that receive an 'Abnormal Herd Test Result' we will use a new formula to make an assumption on what the test result could have been, based on previous Herd Test results (when applicable).
If you'd like to seek advice or have questions about these changes, please don’t hesitate to email [email protected]
Rachel Bloxham explains evaluation system changes.
Explanation of LW ranges.
