LactanetGen.ca FAQ

LactanetGen.ca FAQ

Sign In

To create an account on LactanetGen.ca, navigate to the top right corner Menu and select “Sign In”. Once on the Sign In page, click “Sign Up” to create your profile. Make sure to complete all the required fields and set your username and password. Once registered, you will receive an email prompting you to confirm your account. Please make sure to check your Junk folder if you have not received the confirmation email.

Yes! Once signed in you may update your profile via the “Manage Profile” page. Click on your name or the settings icon beside the language dropdown in the top right corner and then select “Manage Profile”.

From the Menu, select “Sign in” and then click on “Forgot Sign In Credentials?”. Please enter your email address and a password reset link will be sent to all usernames associated with your email. Click on this link and follow the directions.

Yes, every time you have a new session on LactanetGen.ca, you will need to enter your username and password to access the added features available.

No, you can access the tools available on LactanetGen.ca without an account but you will not have access to the enhanced features below.

Sign In Features

Creating an account and signing in on LactanetGen.ca provides you the opportunity to:

  • Provide your DHI Herd Number to query active females in your herd inventory
  • Select your primary breed to auto populate queries
  • Select your preferred national selection index, LPI or Pro$, and modify the default sorting of query results
  • Modify the display of your Genetic Evaluation Summary page, including:
    • Opting to display the descriptive type traits by default rather than selecting the dropdown
    • Opting to display the intermediate optimum type traits by scorecard section instead of in a separate group on their own
  • Create a personalized Lifetime Performance Index (pLPI) by modifying the percentage relative emphasis on each of the subindexes.

When creating your account or using the “Manage Profile” page, users who select Canada as their country will be prompted to complete the section titled “Herd Information”. If you are enrolled on milk recording, select your Province and input your DHI Herd Number, found on your Lactanet reports and invoices (maximum of 5 digits). Upon completion, you will be prompted to enter the First DHI Test in the month listed. Once your account is saved, navigate to the Animal Query via the Menu in the top right-hand corner. On the Animal Query page, you will see a new search option titled “DHI Herd Number”, select your Breed and click Submit Query to see a list of all active females in your DHI herd inventory along with a Visible ID column. As a reminder, you must be logged in to access this search option.

Yes, there is no limit on the number of people who can enter your DHI Herd Number and access the list of females.

Once you are signed in to your account, you will be automatically directed to your “Preferences” page where you can create your pLPI. You may also find this page from anywhere on the website by clicking your name or the settings icon in the top right-hand corner. If you selected a primary breed under General Preferences, then the personalized Lifetime Performance Index (pLPI) section will be auto populated with the relative emphasis for each subindex in the official LPI as well as boxes to the right to add your personalized emphasis for each subindex. Click “Add another breed” if you wish to create a pLPI for another breed. You may create one pLPI for each breed of interest and the relative weightings must be whole numbers, adding to 100%. To submit your pLPI relative weights, click “Save”. For more information visit this page : Your personalized Lifetime Performance Index 

There are several ways to view your personalized LPI (pLPI) alongside the LPI for each animal including:

  1. Animal Query
  • Search by DHI Herd Number:
    If you provided your DHI Herd Number in your account, submitting the Animal Query search by DHI Herd Number section will show a pLPI column beside the official LPI for each female in your DHI herd inventory.
  • Search by Name:
    Utilize the “Name” option to search males by “Short Name (Full or Partial)” or males and females by “Name (Full or Start)” and view the pLPI for the list of all animals.

    2. Group Query

Using the Group Query tool for either males or females, including the Advanced Search options, will provide a list of animals including the pLPI for each.

In all these scenarios, the pLPI column will only appear if you are signed in and have modified the pLPI for the breed of the query. If you wish to sort via the pLPI column, click the option to “Download to Excel”.

Animal Query and Group Query

Using the Animal Query to search by name provides an excellent starting point for users not enrolled on DHI. First select your preferred breed and “Female” from the Sex dropdown menu. You can then enter your herd prefix in the “Name (Full or Start)” field. After submitting the query, a list of females will be generated. Clicking on the “Act.” column will bring all the active females to the top of the list, allowing you to focus on animals that have added data in the Lactanet database in recent years. You may then wish to use the Refinement Filter to narrow down the list. For more information visit this page: Animal Query Tips and Tricks.

The Animal Query is a great resource to perform searches by name, registration number, semen code (for males), animal tattoo, and DHI Herd Number (if applicable). On the other hand, utilizing the Group Query will provide a list of top males or females for each breed. You can also select to view animals born in a specific country or based on their Evaluation Type:

  • EBV: sires with a domestic progeny proof or cows with Canadian lactation and classification data included
  • MACE: foreign animals with a MACE evaluation provided through Interbull
  • PA: animals with a Parent Average for production and/or type traits.

The search can also be narrowed to include only genotyped animals and/or animals considered to be active in Canada. In addition, clicking on “View Advanced Search Options” provides you with more specific query results for top lists, including recessives, genetic tests and haplotypes, AI controllers, parentage, province (for females only) and date of birth. For more information on the Group Query tool visit this page:  Group Query Tips and Tricks.

To refine query results, click on “Refinement Filter” located at the top of the table. Here you can input your preferred criteria, including the LPI subindexes. Click “Submit” in the bottom right corner to view the refined list and the specific criteria will be listed in the grey box above the table.

Yes! Most columns are sortable by either clicking on a column header or by selecting from the dropdown list found in the “Refinement Filter” options. Alternatively, a “Download to Excel” option is available for users to sort and filter as they wish.

To view more information on an individual animal, click on the animal’s name (male) or registration number (female) from the query results table. You will then be able to view the animal’s Genetic Evaluation Summary which includes the LPI subindexes, conformation, and functional traits. For more specific details, click through the categories at the top of the page.  

Yes, LactanetGen.ca is printer friendly. Click the print icon at the top of the page.

Inbreeding Calculator

The Inbreeding Calculator can be accessed in one of three ways:

  1. From the LactanetGen.ca homepage or Menu options
  2. From the “Inbreeding Calculator” link found above an Active List of females. An Active List of females can be generated by either performing a Group Query, or searching by Name or DHI Herd Number via the Animal Query
  3. By clicking on the “Inbreeding” tab displayed at the top of any page for the female of interest, which then pre-populates the Inbreeding Calculator with the female’s registration number

From the list of animals in your DHI herd inventory found by following the steps outlined in the FAQ “How do I view genetic evaluations for animals in my DHI Herd Inventory?”, click on “Inbreeding Calculator” above the resulting list of females. By default, “Use the active list” will be selected in the “Select Female(s)” section located in Option 2. Under “Select Male(s)”, you may either choose “Individual” and fill in the registration number for the sire of interest or select “Use Top Sire Group” and make various selection criteria. When you select this second option and click “Continue”, the list of females in your herd will appear on the left side and the list of sires meeting your selection criteria appear on the right side.  Select the name of any one sire to create the Inbreeding Calculator Report. This report outlines the sire information and his genetic evaluations at the top, which is followed by a list of the potential female mates from your herd with the inbreeding levels and parent averages for potential progeny.

For the selected animal of interest, the “GC” column contains a list of the genetic conditions for which they have a Carrier Probability of 25% or higher. For the list of potential mates, a mating risk calculation is done to reflect the probability that the resulting pregnancy or calf will be affected by the undesirable genetic condition or haplotype. The “GC” column beside the list of potential mates in the lower section reflects the mating risk by appearing with:

  • Blank Column: The mating risk is below 1%.
  • ⚠ Producers should proceed with caution with the mating, as the probability of producing an affected pregnancy or calf is estimated to be at least 1% but less than 6.25%. 
  • ⯃ It is not recommended to proceed with the mating as the probability of producing an affected pregnancy or calf is 6.25% or higher.

For more information visit: New Lactanet tools to manage undesirable genes.

Beef-on-Dairy Query

Developed in collaboration with Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI) and the Canadian Angus Association the “Beef-on-Dairy Query” tool provides Angus sire genetic evaluations to support dairy farmers in their beef-on-dairy breeding decisions. Such genetic evaluations include 11 traits of interest for beef-on-dairy breeding as well as two indexes, Angus-On-Holstein ($AxH) and Angus-On-Jersey ($AxJ). Upon submitting a query, the default sort will be the $AxH Index, but all columns are sortable by clicking the column header. For more information visit: Beef -on-Dairy Query .

The Beef-on-Dairy Query provides two economic indexes designed specifically for use when mating Angus bulls to dairy cows, namely Angus-On-Holstein ($AxH) and Angus-On-Jersey ($AxJ). According to Angus.org, “the indexes are an estimate of how future beef-on-dairy progeny of each Angus sire are expected to perform, on average, compared to beef-on-dairy progeny of other Angus sires if the sires were randomly mated and calves were exposed to the same environment”. These economic indexes are expressed in dollars per head to help identify the most profitable sires for the beef-on-dairy market and include several genetic traits such as calving ease, growth from birth to finishing, feed intake, as well as carcass yield and quality.

Under the “Evaluation Units” option on the Beef-on-Dairy Query, you may display the traits in terms of either “Estimated RBV” or “GE-EPD” values.  The default display of Estimated RBV, will provide traits in a consistent pre-defined scale just like the dairy cattle genetic evaluations for functional traits. As with functional traits, the Estimated RBV values for the Angus traits will have an average of 100 and a standard deviation of 5. Values greater than 100 are always favourable. Alternatively, electing to display evaluations by GE-EPD will display each trait according to the original scale of expression published by Angus Genetics Inc., noting that lower values are desired for some traits. Due to the economic nature of the $AxH and $AxJ indexes, they will remain expressed in dollars per head regardless of the evaluation unit selected.

For additional support please visit the Genetics articles on the Lactanet.ca website or contact the Genetics team at genetics_cs@lactanet.ca.

 

Partager

By Hannah Sweett, Ph. D.
Hannah discovered her passion for agriculture during her undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph and through work experience in the dairy industry. She holds a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Genetics and a Ph.D. in Animal Genetics, focusing on the genetic improvement of dairy cattle fertility.