1. Accessing BullsEye
There are a few ways to access the Bullseye webpage.
A. Follow this link to the BullsEye webpage.
B. Go the the USJersey website.
Scroll on 'Green Book Online,' select Bullseye: Search, Sort and Select
C. Log into the appropriate infoJersey customer account.
Go to the tools tab, then select Bullseye.
2. Once you have reached this screen you are ready to search.
The list that pops up when you initially open Bullseye is a list of all bulls ranked by genomic Jersey Performance Index, or JPI.
From here, you can start customizing to create an index that may more closely align to your operation’s genetic plan or goals.
3. Creating Criteria
A. Recorded Status
Here you can decide the minimum Generation Count you desire in your bulls, whether or not you want to use JX bulls, or if you want Herd Registered bulls only. This is really up to you and what you’re looking for in a sire on your operation.
When you do this, the number of bulls in the list will decrease.
B. Animal Information and Polled Status
Next is information that you want displayed in the screen area. Some people prefer to see the Sire Short Name for recording purposes. Others may want the registration number easily attainable to research family history using our animal search or performance pedigree options on the infoJersey website. You can also check ‘Sire Short Name’ and ‘MGS Short Name’ or Maternal Grandsire Short Name, to see the sire stack behind the individual bulls.
There also is the option to select your preference in polled cattle.
C. Genomic Future Inbreeding (GFI), Breed Base Representation (BBR) and Breed Evaluation Group
Genomic Future Inbreeding (GFI) is an estimate of inbreeding in future offspring, based on parent’s actual homozygosity and percentages of genes in common with the genotyped breed population.
BBR stands for Breed Base Representation which is the genomic estimate of the animal’s relationship to the Jersey breed reference group. BBRs of 94 or greater are reported as one hundred, while BBRs less than 94 are reported as calculated.
The BBR value also assigns a S for single breed or M for multiple breed blended basis designation for each animal. For genomically tested animals with a BBR of ninety-four or great, they are given the S designation. BBRs less than 94 are given an M for multi-breed.
D. A.I. Status
In this area, we decide which bulls you want to be able to find for the matings. There are three options: Active A.I. bulls, Foreign bulls marketed in the U.S. and Genomically Tested (G) bulls without milking daughters.
In order to be considered active, bulls must have milking daughters and data available on the performance of those daughters. Foreign bulls are exactly as it sounds, bulls that did not originate in the U.S. G Code bulls are younger and do not yet have milking daughter data available. These often offer the newest genetics but have more risk with not having the proven information.
E. Marketing Organizations
There are numerous marketing organizations available to pick from on Bullseye. We recommend using the organizations from which you know you can obtain semen somewhat easily. If you scroll over the organization, some information will be given about what NAAB code they market bulls under for your research purposes.
F. Production Traits
In this area, you can set minimum values for the traits you’re looking for. The traits listed under production are Jersey Performance Index, PTA Milk, Percent Fat, PTA Fat, Percent Protein, Net Merit, Cheese Merit, Fluid Merit, Grazing Merit and Reliability.
There are great resources available which will teach you more about the relationships and meanings behind each of these categories.
G. Udder Traits
The next area represents the udder traits. Here you can set minimums for fore udder attachment, rear udder height, rear udder width, udder cleft, udder depth, teat placement, teat length, rear teat placement—rear view, rear teat placement—side view and Jersey Udder Index, or JUI.
For this section and the ‘Body Traits’ section, it may be easiest to reference a bull proof to understand which way the numbers should go for desirable traits. If you want to know how USJersey evaluates animals using linear evaluations, simply Google “USJersey Linear Evaluation” and you will see our resource which explains the different categories.
H. Body Traits
The next section allows you to select what body confirmation traits you focus on. Here you will see PTA stature, strength, dairy form, rump angle, rump width, rear leg set and foot angle.
I. Fitness Traits
This section highlights the fitness and other traits. Here you can set minimums for PTA daughter pregnancy rate, heifer conception rate, cow conception rate, somatic cell score, productive life, livability, genomic estimate of future inbreeding and final score, as well as Jersey Haplotype One (JH1) status..
J. CDCB Health Traits
The final selection section available is the CDCB Health Traits newly released in April 2020. The traits in this section include milk fever (MFV), displaced abomasum (DAB), ketosis (KET), mastitis (MET), retained placenta (RPL) and Health Trait Index (HTI). The more positive these numbers are, the more desirable the trait as the greater resistance to the disease.
4. Final Selections
Once you have set all the criteria for your bull selection, you will see the list decrease in numbers significantly. You will now have a variety of bulls which meet your desired criteria for potential future matings.
If you so choose, you can continue narrowing the criteria to make an even smaller group of bulls. Another option is to look at the highest animals and compare them on a pedigree basis.
5. Utilizing the Data.
A. Exporting to Your Computer
Once you are confident in your bull selection, Bullseye will let you work with the data in a variety of ways. If you want to export or print the information, then click either the ‘printer’ icon to print or the ‘sheet of paper’ badge to export to Excel.
Once you have the information in Excel, you can sort and rearrange the data even further to assist with your personal understanding and evaluation style. This is also a great way to present the information to others during team meetings with partners or your reproductive or genetic specialist.
B. Export Directly to JerseyMateTM
Click the ‘JerseyMateTM’ button in the top right corner and it will take you to the next screen. Here you will need to specify which herd you are, which can be found in the upper left corner of the screen when logged into JerseyMateTM. In addition, you should name the group something which signifies when you did your research. Official bull proofs are released three times each year, so the data could change between each time period.
Once you have the needed information enter, select ‘Submit Mating Group.’ This will export your data directly into your mating group, which will make it easy for you to submit and run the mating for your dairy.
