180 • Impacts of Applied Genetics — Micro-Organisms, Plants, and Animals 
age that includes both beneficial and harmful 
traits.” The breeder’s most important capital is 
embodied in the animals with which he works. 
To upgrade this capital, to increase the genetic 
\alue of his hi'eeding stock, the breeder must 
have reliable information on the genetic value 
of the gernifilasm he is considering introducing. 
Since an individual farmei' usually does not 
have the resources to collect and process data 
on |3erformance of indiv iduals outside his own 
herds, he must tui'u to outside sources of infor- 
mation when deciding which new germplasm to 
introduce. 
The i'ec|uirements of such an information sys- 
tem ai'e extensive. In the United States today, 
only one such system exists. The National Co- 
operative Dairy Hei'd Improvement Program 
(N(d)HIP) is a model program that could he 
adapted to other s|)ecies where the benefits 
from adv anced technologies would he enhanced 
by availability of populationwide data. 
The National Cooperative Dairy Herd 
Improvement Program 
Over the past 50 years, the U.S. dairy indus- 
try has used test records of individual animals 
to help in breeding decisions. NCDHIP is a na- 
tionwide program for collecting, analyzing, and 
disseminating information on the performance 
of dairy cattle.*^ It is the result of a memoran- 
dum of understanding among Federal and State 
agencies, local dairymen, and industry groups 
across the United States. 
In NCDHIP, local Dairy Herd Improvement 
Association (DHIA) officials go to the dairies to 
collect the performance data on indiv idual ani- 
mals. These data then become part of the Ofji- 
cial Dairy Recordkeeping Plans. The data are 
standard for all participating herds across the 
United States. They are sent to the Animal Im- 
provement Programs Laboratory (AIPL) at 
USDA in Beltsville, Md., which analyzes them 
and incorporates them into the “USDA-DHIA 
''Philip Hiuiciler, Biology and the Ftilure of Man (New Voi k: 0,\- 
lord Unix er.sil V Pres.s, i;)70l, |)|j. sriS-SST. 
'^Kor a complete hi.slorv ol perldrmance le.stitif' of dairy catlli? 
in the United State.s, .see: Gerald .1. Kiiif', I'he National Cooperative 
Dairy Herd Improvement Program, Dairy Herd lm|)rovemeni I.et- 
ter 49, No. 4, Jnlv 1973, USD,\, ,VRS. 
Sire Summary List,” published hiannually. 
These summaries are public information. 
In addition to the official plan, N(d)HlP also 
includes several unofficial plans, which have 
less stringent regulations for data collection but 
which offer each dairyman a comparison of bis 
herds with other herds across the Nation. The 
results of unofficial plans are not intended to he 
used as guidelines for selecting germplasm from 
outside one’s herd. 
The following characteristics conti'ibut(> to 
NCDHIP's success: 
• It is a cooperative program; in) group or in- 
dividual is forced to i)articipat(v NcniM the- 
less, it has successfully brought togfMher 
individuals. State and Ff'deral agencies, 
breed associations, and professional and 
scientific socicfties for the [lui'suit of a com- 
mon goal. It is almost totally financed by 
the dairymen tlKMiiselv (>s. In the national 
coordinating gi'oup, all those v\ ith an intei'- 
est in the industrv haw a voice in formu- 
lating policy for the jfiogram. 
• It is flesible; a dairyman can use the jhm - 
formance I'f'cords from the unofficial plans 
to evaluate tlu' animals within his herd or 
he can turn to the official sire summai i«*s 
to make comparisons with participating 
herds throughout the .Nation. Ihe.se data 
ai'e us('ful both for com|)aring the perlorm- 
ance of one’s herd and bri'ed with others 
and foi' selecting nmv germplasm lor in- 
troduction into the herd 
• Its data ai'e regarded as impartial; disinterest 
on th(' part of the local DHIA otiicial who 
collects the data and the high securitv sur 
rounding the processed intormation .ire 
central to the program's success \IPLs 
analyses and sire summaries are respected 
both nationally and inti'rnation.illv m no 
small part because of freedom Irom (om- 
men'ial [iressures. 
Ap|)roximately 5(), ()()() herds w ith .ilmost 2 K 
million cows were* enrolled in the otlici.il jil.ins 
of N(M)HIP in In each ol IS vc.irs rec orded 
Ix^tweiMi HHil and H)7S, cows enrolled m the 
()ffic:ial Dairv Recordki*e[)ing Pi. ins m \( DIIIP 
