Any registered Jersey animal—male or female. The AJCA requires that the following animals be genotyped: donor dams, bulls recorded with a Generation Count, and animals selected for the random parentage verification program.

The current version Jersey LD test (45K) is $37 per animal for REAP herds. For non-REAP herds, the price is $47 per animal. In addition, you will be charged the appropriate CDCB genomic evaluation service fee.

The uLD chip, with approximately 9,000 SNPs, costs $28 per animal for REAP herds ($38/animal, non-REAP). Reliability should be nearly the same as the LD (45K) chip, provided both parents are genotyped. If only sire and maternal grandsire are genotyped, reliability will be approximately 2% lower. The uLD chip includes breed-specific SNPs for Jersey Haplotype 1 (JH1). However, it employs haplotypes to determine JH2 and polled status, so those results may vary compared to other chips.

Yes. The HD (80K) test costs $100 per animal for REAP herds, and $115 for non-REAP herds. The appropriate CDCB genomic evaluation service fee will also be added to the test cost. These prices apply only for orders placed through the AJCA.

Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding fees cover ongoing expenses of calculating and distributing monthly official genomic evaluations and weekly preliminary evaluations.

A fee will be assessed for all males. However, most females will not be charged an additional fee. Contact Herd Services to determine your rate code.

They make genotyping a large number of animals very economical by using a set of strategically selected SNPs to represent all of the SNPs on the original 50K chip. Because DNA is inherited in blocks, identifying a few ‘snips’ from each block lets scientists fill in the rest of the DNA sequence with a high degree of certainty.

Order online at the Genomic Test Center. Or, download this Excel worksheet to submit your order, then email it or fax a print-out to 614/861-8040, Attn: Genomic Test.

If you want to discuss options before you order, call 614/861-3636 and ask to speak to Herd Services. Or, send email to genomictest@usjersey.com or HerdServices@usjersey.com. Please note that your AJCA account must be current to place an order. Tests will be billed after samples have been processed.

The kit is a one-page form preprinted with the animal's AJCA identification. It also provides instructions for collecting hair samples. Verify the animal's ID with the one printed on the test form, collect the hair sample and tape it to the form where indicated, fold it up and seal into an envelopes—one for each animal. If you receive it by email, just print it out and tape the tail hairs to the sheet. You will need to provide an envelope to mail to the lab.

The AJCA uses the services of GeneSeek. Mail samples to GeneSeek Lab Sample Reception, 4131 N. 48th St., Lincoln, NE 68504.

Preliminary genomic evaluations, without reliabilities and genomic inbreeding, are issued weekly. These are NOT official evaluations. They are not for publication.

Official evaluations, including reliabilities, are released monthly and replace the preliminary predictions. Samples submitted by the first day of each month will usually have an official genomic evaluation in the next month's release. For example, a sample that reaches GeneSeek by July 1 will have an August evaluation.

Reports are posted to the Genomic Testing Center. You will need to have an infoJersey account, with a current phone number and email address on file, to view the results. Contact Herd Services to request a temporary password to get logged in.

The Genomic Evaluation Report is issued to the Recorded Owner. The information is added to the AJCA animal database and the genomic evaluation becomes official. It will be published on all AJCA reports, like performance pedigrees and the Green Book, and used in sale catalogs.

You will receive a report with detail about the animal in question (see example Sire Conflict Report). Herd Services staff will work with you to resolve the issue and correct the animal's pedigree record.

If an animal is designated a carrier of an undesirable genetic factor, the Association will notify the Recorded Owner, the Breeder, any lessee, and any third-party nominator by regular U.S. Mail. Additionally, the AJCA maintains a record of all animals designated as carriers of an undesirable genetic factor. This designation will be noted on all advertising, descriptive materials, or pedigrees published by the AJCA containing references to a designated carrier.

Yes. We suggest that you utilize HerdView on infoJersey to generate a report using criteria you select. A standard report listing the top 25% of your cows AND heifers ranked by Jersey Performance IndexT^M (JPI) is also available. You can request this report by email, or call to discuss other options for determining which heifers and cows you want to test.

Yes, they must be recorded by the AJCA before a test kit can be sent out.

No. There might, however, be some cases when you choose to test dam-daughter pairs because of the opportunity to increase the Reliability of the evaluations.

Failure is rare if you follow the instructions for collecting DNA samples. If it fails at the lab, there is no cost to re-test. However, if there is not enough data from the genomic test and CDCB is unable to calculate an evaluation (resulting in a low call rate error), you will have to pay to re-test the animal.

Samples are securely stored and will be available for future use.