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 Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory: Beltsville, MD
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History of USDA dairy evaluations (1862–2013)  Major events  |  Evaluation calculation  |  Computing sites  |  Organizational names  |  Resources  Major events **Year**
**Event**1862
Department of Agriculture created by President Abraham Lincoln (USDA history) and land-grant colleges established through the Morrill Act (milestone document)1895
USDA begins collecting milk and fat production records of individual cows1908
USDA hires Helmer Rabild (photo) to organize a national milk-recording program after his success in organizing the first State program in Michigan (photo)1912
Inbreeding experiment begins with repeated sire-daughter matings (report)1918
USDA leases many of its young bulls to farmers to develop progeny-tested sires; a total of 1,200 bulls were leased over the next 40 years (photo)1922
USDA's Bureau of Animal Industry (Sewall Wright) defines relationships among animals and inbreeding coefficients (biography, photo)1925
Sorting and tabulating of cow records on electric machines (photo)Dairy breeds described and yields compared (report)1935
Uniform series of eartags developed to allow unique identification of all cows tested by Dairy Herd Improvement Associations (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3)Milk records available for only about 2% of dairy cows (photo 1, photo 2)1936
First national sire evaluations calculated from daughter-dam comparisons (photo 1, photo 2)1947
Crossbreeding trial of Holsteins, Jerseys, and Red Danes completed (photo, report)1949
Research herd includes Holstein cows with 75% inbreeding, the highest ever recorded (report)1959
IBM 705 computer replaces more than 100 employees and 100 individual adding machines1961
Laboratory moves from Washington, DC, to Beltsville, MD1962
Sire evaluations computed using herdmate comparisons, which better account for differences in management (photo)1964
National cow evaluations replace regional evaluations of processing centers (photo)1974
Modified contemporary comparison, which better accounted for genetic trend, used in computing genetic evaluations (photo)1976
Mexican Holstein milk yield evaluated by USDA for next 20 years1977
Protein and solid-not-fat evaluations computed (photo)1978
Type evaluations for breeds other than Holstein calculated at USDA1981
Maternal ancestors incorporated in cow evaluation1989
Animal model evaluations use relationships among all cows and bulls (photo)1997
Web site replaces computer tapes for distribution of genetic evaluations1999
Laboratory moves (within Beltsville) from building 263 to building 005National Dairy Shrine survey ranks genetic evaluations the 2nd most positive and significant change in the last 50 years (artificial insemination is 1st)2001
Laboratory survives direct hit by tornado (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4)2008
Laboratory celebrates 100 years (agenda, history, puzzles, slide show, registrants, sponsors, research leaders)2009
First official genomic evaluations2013
Calculation and distribution of genetic evaluations transferred to Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding; USDA continues research on evaluation methodology  Evaluation calculation *Changes shown in **red*** **Year**
**Evaluation changed**
**No./ year**
**Release months**
**Traits included**1936
Bull (new)
1
Summer (exact month varied)
Milk, fat1940
Bull
**12**
**Each month** (bulls with many additional daughters since last evaluation re-evaluated)
Milk, fat1960
Bull
**4**
**February**,**May**,**August**,**November**
Milk, fat1964
**Cow**
**2**
**January**,**July**
Milk, fat1967
Bull/cow
**3**
January, **May**,**September**
Milk, fat1977
Bull
3
January, May, September
Milk, fat, **protein**1978
Bull/cow
**2**
January, **July**
Milk, fat, protein (bulls only), **type***1985
Cow
2
January, July
Milk, fat, **protein**, type*1994
Bull
2
January, July
Milk, fat, protein, **somatic cell score (SCS)**, **productive life (PL)**, type*1995
Cow
2
January, July
Milk, fat, protein, **SCS**, **PL**, type*1997
Bull/cow
**4**
**February**,**May**,**August**,**November**
Milk, fat, protein, SCS, PL, type*2002
Bull
4
February, May, August, November
Milk, fat, protein, SCS, PL, **calving ease (CE)**, type*2003
Bull/cow
4
February, May, August, November
Milk, fat, protein, SCS, PL, CE (bulls only), **daughter pregnancy rate (DPR)**, type*2006
Bull
4
February, May, August, November
Milk, fat, protein, SCS, PL, CE (bulls only), **stillbirth (SB)**, DPR, type*2008
Bull/cow
**3**
January, **April**,**August**
Milk, fat, protein, SCS, PL, CE (bulls only), SB (bulls only), DPR, type*2010
Bull/cow
3
April, August, **December**
Milk, fat, protein, SCS, PL, CE (bulls only), SB (bulls only), DPR, **cow conception rate (CCR)**, **heifer conception rate (HCR)**, type**USDA calculated type evaluations for breeds other than Holstein; Holstein type evaluations calculated by Holstein Association USA  Computing sites **Year**
**Owner**
**Location**
**Computer**1959
Commodity Credit branch, USDA
New Orleans, LA
IBM 7051965
Navy Bureau of Personnel
Arlington, VA1968
Computer Center, Statistical Reporting Service, USDA
Washington, DC1970
Sears and Roebuck, Inc.
Rockville, MD
IBM 3601973
National Agricultural Library, USDA
Beltsville, MD
IBM 3601975
Washington Computer Center, USDA
Washington, DC
IBM 3701987
USDA Computing Center
Kansas City, MO
IBM 3701985
Cornell University*Database maintained at USDA Computing Center*
Ithaca, NY*Kansas City, MO*
IBM 3090*IBM 370*1990
Cornell University*Database maintained at Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory (**AIPL**), USDA*
Ithaca, NY*Beltsville, MD*
IBM 3090*IBM 9370*1993
AIPL (evaluation processing and database)
Beltsville, MD
IBM RS6000 P series2002
AIPL (evaluation processing and database)
Beltsville, MD
IBM X series servers  Organizational names **Year**
**Laboratory name**
**Institute/Bureau name**1908
Dairy Division
Bureau of Animal Industry1926
Dairy Introduction Section
Bureau of Dairy Industry1929
Dairy Herd Improvement Investigations
Bureau of Dairy Industry1954
Dairy Herd Improvement Section
Dairy Cattle Research Branch1968
Dairy Herd Improvement Investigations Unit
Animal Science Research Institute1972
Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory (**AIPL**)
Animal Physiology and Genetics Institute1979
AIPL
Animal Sciences Institute1986
AIPL
Livestock and Poultry Science Institute2000
AIPL
Animal and Natural Resources Institute2012
AIPL
Beltsville Agricultural Research Center  Resources Hodgson, R. 1956. Dairy production research in the United States Department of Agriculture. J. Dairy Sci. 39:674–682. Hodgson, R. 1986. Dairy production research by the United States Department of Agriculture 1895–1980: A historical review. USDA Misc. Publ. No. 1447, 64 pp. King, G. 1973. The National Cooperative Dairy Herd Improvement Program: History, purpose, and organization. Dairy Herd Improv. Lett. 49(4). Summary of detailed changes in USDA-DHIA genetic evaluations (1989–2013) Chronological
Topical *Compiled by Paul VanRaden*


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