What's New in Alta BLUE LINK

You can now choose between two projection formula options in Step 4: Create Your Strategy: Annual Plan Projection, which calculates projections for calves produced in the next year, and Focused Inventory, a new formula that calculates more accurate projections for calves produced in the next month.

The Focused Inventory formula uses the same variables as the Annual Plan Projection formula, but it includes additional variables like account service rate and conception rates by group and semen type to improve the accuracy of its projection. Focused Inventory plans allow you to view projected rates based on the time range you enter by clicking the Options button and selecting Configure Rates:

To learn more about selecting your plan's projection formula, see Set Mating Options in Step 4.

When you apply Bulls Restrictions in Step 4: Create Your Strategy, you can now better control the preference given to each bull. You can set minimum and maximum limits for the likeliness that the selected bull(s) will be chosen as the first, second, or third choice:

You can also now set bulls restrictions by user-defined count or percentage. Simply select your preference at the top right side of the window:

You can now manually update your bull list from your Alta Management page. You can manually add bulls if you did not find them in Alta BLUE LINK, as well as edit existing bulls that you have manually added or view existing bulls that others have manually added.

See Add Bulls to learn more!

We have added numerous updates to improve your Reports experience:

• Chosen Bulls: We now include the Bulls Weighted Averages report, which compiles all the information about the plan's top three mating choices.
• Genetic Projection: We now show the trait weights you chose in Step 2.
• Mating: We added new fields, such as percentile rank and progeny index, to make it easier to analyze the plan's mating recommendations.
• Mating: You can now choose whether you show or hide a female's sire ID Identifier (Show Sire NAAB National Association of Animal Breeders. www.naab-css.org/REG Animal registration number) or a female's sire choice recommendations (Show Sire Choice NAAB/REG). Previously, you could only choose to show or hide all sires from the Mating Report, including both the female's sire and sire choice recommendations.

Sexed and conventional bulls are now more evenly and better assigned to the females in your plan! We updated the way we handle Even Distribution assignments for both Sexed and Conventional bulls, which improves the matches projected in your plan.

We now correctly identify beef and beef-cross females to better exclude them from plans that should only include dairy females. You can still view beef and beef-cross females in the Data Integrity Report, but beef and beef-cross females will be excluded from any other dashboard widgets or reports.

The Bull List on your Alta Management page now includes bulls added from proofs. See Add Bulls to Your Plan to learn more about the bull list.

When you view or edit a bull, you will now see up to 6 different NAAB codes. When you add a bull, you no longer have to identify nor determine the bull's product type (Conventional or Sexed), you simply need to enter or confirm the animal's NAAB codes.

We completed numerous bug fixes and improved the performance of various widgets in the last few months to ensure that your genetic planning tool works better than ever!

You can easily monitor the future of your herd using the new Heifer Inventory tools! The Heifer Inventory and Future Calving widgets are now available in Alta BLUE LINK Genetic Dashboard's new Heifer Inventory tab. Open the Genetic Dashboard and click the Heifer Inventory tab in the upper left corner to see the Heifer Inventory widget, which shows all live heifers grouped by birth year and reproduction status, and the Future Calving widget, which shows all future heifers still in utero grouped by due date.

See Heifer Inventory to learn more!

When you create your genetic plan in Step 4: Create Your Strategy, you can now restrict the bulls in your plan to only be the first, second, and/or third mating choice. This option helps you better control the mating preference given to each bull and ensure that the plan's matches more closely align with the plan's goals. Simply click the Options button and select Bulls Restrictions. Choose the female group that will benefit from the bull restrictions and the bulls that you plan to restrict. Then, designate whether each bull type should be the first choice, second choice, third choice, or a combination for the selected female group:

See Bulls Restrictions in Step 4: Create Your Strategy to learn more!

We have expanded support for bull proofs: Alta Blue Link can now access proof bases from Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, in addition to the United States. When you search for a bull by its International Registration Number, NAAB code, or name, the genetic planning will check all proof bases for the bull.

You can now search for and include bulls in your genetic plan if they don't have a NAAB code. As long as a bull has an International Registration Number (IntRegNum), you will be able to find the bull and add it to your genetic plan.

We completed numerous bug fixes and improved the performance of various widgets in the last few months to ensure that your genetic planning tool works better than ever!

To implement the genetic plan, follow the instructions in our newest help topic: Activate a Genetic Plan! You can activate your plan after you finish building the plan and review the generated reports. During the activation process, you can also select the items you want to send to PULSE. If some items are not configured, see Configure Items in DC305 (DairyComp Unlimited Users Only) to learn how!

On the Mating page, you can create and download the Inbreeding report, which shows the inbreeding value between each female and each bull in the mating plan. Each row in the report lists the female, the bull selected for mating, and the resulting inbreeding value. When applicable, the report also lists the haplotype or recessive gene that restricts the pairing between the female and the bull.

To generate the plan, click at the top right side of the Mating page.

While the report is generating, the button displays . After the report is generated, the button displays . Click the button to export the CSV file of the full report.

See Inbreeding to learn more!

During Step 4: Create Your Strategy, we added new options to help filter your mating options:

You can now choose to filter the females included on the list by calculated index or age in days. You can also include pregnant heifers based on their DCC Days carrying calf/pregnant! Check out Other Filters to learn more about setting the filters!

You can now filter the data shown in the Mating! By default, all fields are included in the mating report, but you can now exclude the following data points: Female Index, Sire NAAB Code, Short Name, INB%, and STOC semen type of choice. The system saves your filters if you leave and return to the report page.

If you selected Reverse Mate as your genetic plan's mating option, you can now export the Mating Report to view all the bulls in your plan. The exported report lists up to 20 prohibited bulls that an animal should not mate with. Previously, the report only included the top three bulls.

The genetic planning tool now pulls an improved abortion rate from PULSE, which calculates the annual abortion rate to better match industry standards. Previously, the calculation only included pregnancies that were lost after an animal was pregnant for a month. Now, the calculation includes all pregnancies that are lost, including pregnancies that are lost before an animal reaches 42 DCC.

The genetic planning tool now pulls an improved cull rate from PULSE, which calculates cow and heifer cull rates to better match industry standards. The new cull rate provides a more accurate representation of how many animals require replacement each year.

When you create the strategy for your genetic plan or view reports, we now display the true actual total of projected milking females and required milking females per month. Previously, we included an 11% buffer in the calculation, which increased the number of needed females.

We completed numerous bug fixes and improved the performance of various widgets in the last few months to ensure that your genetic planning tool works better than ever!

The Female Average Index by Age widget is now available in the Alta BLUE LINK Genetic Dashboard! Use this widget to view your herd's indexes by age group:

Alta BLUE LINK can now send versatile and useful planning data from your genetic plan to PULSE and DairyComp 305! The system can share information like the top sires for each female in the genetic plan or female index values directly to PULSE and DC305! When you first activate the genetic plan, select the information you want to see in PULSE and DC305! To learn more, see Activate the Plan!

In mating plans, Alta BLUE LINK now includes females that have duplicate international registration numbers (IntRegNum), the most reliable and globally-unique identifiable number.

Previously, if two females had the same registration number, we only included one female in the plan. Now, we include all females in the plan and if we find duplicate registration numbers, we ensure that the female's birthdate matches the dam proofs. If one female has a different birthdate (within seven days of the proof's birthdate), we remove the female from the plan. If both females have a different birthdate, we remove both females from the plan and use the female's parent averages for the genetic planning tool's calculations instead.

In the Data Integrity Report, the system now includes the breed of the Sire of Conception, as it is interpreted by the genetic planning tool, and the breed of the Sire of Conception, as it is shown in PULSE. These values were added to help troubleshoot and understand the quality of the data behind the information collected for some pregnancy widgets.

In Genetic Projection, we now describe how progeny values are projected for Reverse Mating plans. The progeny values are based on the female's potential matings with bulls that have the semen type of choice you selected. The tool uses the average of the bulls with the selected STOC to determine the progeny values.

We have improved how the genetic planning tool calculates genetic values for potential progeny. During genetic planning, we collect the genetic values for all females and calculate the average of the collected female data. During Step 4: Create Your Strategy, we collect the genetic values for all bulls and calculate the average of the collected bull data. We then use the average female value and the average bull value to project the progeny's genetic values. After mating, we use the bull’s actual genetic values to predict the progeny’s genetic values.

See How Alta BLUE LINK Genetic Planning Works to learn more about the genetic planning tool's calculations.

We updated the logic for calculating Days in Milk values for females added to new plans. Now, Days in Milk is calculated using this formula: DIM Days in milk = Dry Date - Fresh Date. If a date is not available for the Dry Date or Fresh Date, the current date is used. The system will update the DIM calculation on a daily basis until the animal enters a state that is not DRY or FRESH.

Alta BLUE LINK now automatically retrieves the latest Marketing List from Alta BLUE LINK every 24 hours to ensure your data is accurate and up-to-date. Previously, this process was done manually.

We completed numerous bug fixes and improved the performance of various widgets in the last few months to ensure that your genetic planning tool works better than ever!

Before a male and female are matched, the genetic planning tool now checks if the potential sire and potential dam carry the Calf Recumbency haplotype. If both of them carry the gene, they will be prohibited from mating with each other and will not be matched again.

We have removed all references to beef pregnancies from any dashboard widgets that include pregnancy information. Your widget data is now more accurate than ever!

In Step 3: Choose Your Bulls, the eligible bulls list is now more accurate and only includes bulls that are truly active. We have updated how the genetic planning tool flags ConceptPlus and high fertility bulls to ensure that bulls are only included on the list if they are Conventional Active or Sexed Active.

In the Data Integrity Report, the system now uses an animal’s isoID or EID 15-digit electronic ID number associated with the animal eartag as the animal's identifier if the animal’s IntRegNum does not match a proof in our female animal proof database. If the animal's IntRegNum does match a proof in our female animal proof database, the system uses the IntRegNum as the animal's identifier.

If you chose Reverse Mate when you selected your plan's mating type, you will no longer see the Genetic Projection report. Since the plan only lists animals that you should not use, the projections are invalid and should not be shown.

When you use the Genetic Averages by Company widget on your dashboard, the companies are now listed in alphabetical order so you can quickly find the information you need:

We completed numerous bug fixes and improved the performance of various widgets in the last few months to ensure that your genetic planning tool works better than ever!