T.Murulo¹, A.Kööp², K.Reili², K.Ilves¹, K.Pedastsaar¹, A.Pentjärv¹ & M.Uba<sup>1

1</sup>Agricultural Registers and Information Centre, 1 Kreutzwaldi Str. 50094 Tartu, Estonia
²State Animal Breeding Inspection, 39/41 Lai Str. 15056 Tallinn, Estonia

This paper gives an overview of the developments in the organization and technology in animal recording in Estonia, with the main focus on electronic data processing as the core of the entire system. Although milk recording is performed in Estonia more than 90 years already, the most radical reforms have been taken place since early nineties. 1993 was a year of the fundamental decisions, especially for milk recording. Instead of ca 400 herds during socialism, the Animal Recording Centre (ARC) had to serve almost 3000 farms in 1993. The milk laboratory was in need of investments, so was the computer centre, which did not meet the emerging needs in any terms. The same time government decided to cut the subsidies for milk recording and overall agriculture. Among many development decisions, the challenge was taken to reorganise the inefficient and expensive mainframe computer system into the completely new technology a PC based relational data base system was chosen, which has now, besides milk recording, being developed further into many other fields and services. The downsizing project of electronic data processing was completed in 1998.
The paper gives also an overview on the international and national co-operation, involved in the development of services in Estonia. Especially international co-operations have proven to be beneficial, whereas the co-operation at the national level is not underestimated.

The first attempts to introduce animal recording started in Estonia in 1899, the corresponding activities were based on the example set by Scandinavian countries. In 1909, a herd control department was established at Vändra Farmers' Association, and this year is officially considered to mark the beginning of animal recording in Estonia.

During the World War II, animal recording suffered acute crisis, but fortunately, was not completely interrupted. Activities related to breeding and animal recording were continued on collective farms. In 1940, there were 439,800 cows in Estonia, 71,692 of them being under animal recording. In 1944, the corresponding numbers were 234,500 and 29,784. By 1960, the number of cows had increased to 295,800, 140,507 of them being under animal recording. In 1970, the former Estonian Institute of Animal Husbandry (EIAH) established a milk analysing laboratory to analyse animal recording milk samples. This laboratory was also the first to start to determine protein content of milk. Since 1979, the same samples were being analysed for somatic cell count to detect udder inflammations and secretion disturbances of cows. By 1988, the laboratory offered its services to all the Estonian collective farms with the total of 265,000 dairy cows; this means an average of 215,000 milk samples per month.

In the 60ies electronic data processing system for animal recording was established. Enthusiasts of corresponding specialities developed the system for data base establishing and data gathering. During the 1st stage development of annual animal recording and herd characteristics reports was computerised. The 2nd stage focused on development of primary recording system of individual cows. Considering the working speed and memory capacities of computers of that time, the data processing system was decentralised and was mostly used in regions.

By the end of the Soviet period Estonia had achieved very good results - about 99% of the cows owned by collective farms were under animal recording.

As the collective farms were the sole users of animal recording services, the system as a whole was structured and developed around the needs of farms over 100 cows (Table 1). Data gathering and processing systems ware also projected in accordance to technical capacities and requirements of that period. In many cases, the reporting systems were developed to match the requirements set by the former Soviet Union and the results acquired are not being used today. The services provided by animal recording were provided to collective farms, breeding and insemination stations, to a smaller extent also by the Breeding Department of Estonian Institute of Animal Husbandry (EIAH) and the Ministry of Agriculture.

By that time, several private farms had also established animal recording - to start with, it was free of charge, this making the system inefficient and also more expensive (the concentration of animals/herds was smaller and continuously decreasing). Most of the local expenses (transport, identification, documentation, mailing and telephone costs) related to animal recording were covered by the former collective farms. For large farms, it was not profitable to pay for animal recording services provided to smaller farms. In addition to the expenses on the spot, the large farms were also expected to pay for animal recording services in 1992/93, these extending also to smaller private farms in the region. Therefore, in 1993 a situation emerged where all the expenses EIAH made to provide animal recording services were covered by government subsidies, but all the assets combined were still insufficient to support the operation of the existing system, to say nothing of its development.

Reorganisation of animal recording system can't be handled separately from the reforms of agriculture as a whole and breeding activities 1992-1998. The discussions on a possible structure of animal recording started already in the beginning of the 90-ies. By 1993 there was a common understanding that the system as a whole needs to be changed as it does not meet the requirements of collective farms, private farms neither breeding organisations. Cattle breeding organisations had started to work as associations. As Estonia lacked an institutional organising of animal recording, the breeding organisations were forced to do some of the work. The breeding inspection could only take care of animal recording on county level.

In 1993, Estonian and German Government launched a joint project "Organisational and Management Advising Project for Animal Recording Centre in Tartu", the representatives of Germany being Dr. K. Meyn, Dr. F.Schmitt from Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Tierzüchter e. V (ADT). On June 1, 1993, the Milk Analysing Laboratory and Data Processing Department were separated from a scientific system and the Animal Recording Centre of the Breeding Inspection was established. Since that moment up to 1998, Animal Recording Centre (ARC) became a self-sufficient government institution. Being a government institution also comprises several advantages: such an establishment always maintains the interest and control of the government and furthermore, public finances. Looking back, we can say that investments into a contemporary technology, without increasing the service fees substantially, only became possible because Animal Recording Centre maintained its position as a government institution.

Regardless of changes in structure of breeding organisations, Estonia was still in a good position - there was a central milk analysing laboratory located in Tartu with a sample collection and extended transport network all over Estonia. Still, the laboratory equipment was 12 years old, the test results given by automatic analysers were written down by hand. Most of the customers received their results only in two weeks after the samples were taken.

There was also a central data processing centre located in Tartu. A lot of information was gathered was processed with old-type Russian computers being overloaded with data - consequently, out-of-date: both physically and morally. Data administration and processing was a complicated task that took a lot of time and effort. At the same time, the situation posed for a quick, accurate and flexible service and cut-down of costs. Only very few people had had a chance to try their hand with a PC, as at that time, the Animal Recording Centre only had two personal computers.

Additionally, there was an urgent need to secure fast development of IT facilities of the laboratory. Purchase of 2 modern milk analysers in 1994 resulted in big changes both for the lab workers and the milk producers. Overnight, the milk analysing laboratory switched over to computers. The changes in the laboratory were supported by the complementary training organised for the personnel in a Danish company OFS Electric, in Germany - Central Milk Laboratory of Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel (Dr. J.Bergmann) and Central Milk Laboratory of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Güstrow (H. -W.Prahl).

In 1995, a new milk standard introducing new and strict requirements was enforced in Estonia. For producers, this meant a need to pay more attention to udder health issues. For many milk producers, the udder health report, provided by Animal Recording Centre became the main milk quality indicator and the best motive to continue and pay for herd recording.

The very first preparations for milk analysing laboratory national and international accreditation were started in 1996. In January 1999 the laboratory was accredited by Estonian Standardising Office, and in accordance to the certificate issued, the laboratory matches the European requirements set with a standard EN 45001:1995, followed by the accreditation as the milk analysis reference laboratory.

Using mainframe computers for data processing was emerging, but it would have required lot of investments to purchase new mainframe computers and software. The personal computers of that era were good enough and the development of PC technology was escalating. In 1993, none of the world animal recording organisations used entirely personal computers to process animal recording data. Sill, the development and exploitation costs for mainframe were too high and in autumn 1993 the decision to "right-size" the data processing was made. A relational database ORACLE was chosen, as it has the most flexible and handy data administration capacities and development support.

The most difficult task was the fact that it was not possible to interrupt data processing not even for a day. For the data processing department this meant a triple amount of daily work: service and maintenance of the old system, the development of the old system in order to check and prepare old data into the new system simultaneously with the new system development. This decision involved a risk, but effort was praiseworthy and the project was successfully completed in 1998. Several countries were observing such a transition process with interest. The consultants during the transition were Dr.J.Claus (VIT Verden) and Dr.H.Hässig.

The genetic evaluation of bulls' performance characteristics using a BLUP Sire Model started in 1992 supported by training at Bonn and Uppsala Universities. At the Department of Genetics of Bonn University Animal Husbandry faculty the studies were supervised by Dr.W.Trappmann, finances were provided by a Nordrhein-Westfalen Heinrich-Hertz-Stiftung grant. At Uppsala University, the supervisor was Dr. Birgitta Danell. As the BLUP Sire Model is not considered as the most accurate, an objective was set to start using BLUP Animal Model (AM), which was not possible because of limits in data management. In 1996, BLUP Animal Model was implemented, thanks for the improved data processing development. The AM was, first, only applied to milk traits performance evaluation, but soon the preparations were started to implement AM for type, fertility traits and somatic cell count. Within the framework of Estonia-German joint project Estonian specialist were also given a training in Germany, supervised by Prof. Dr. E.Groeneveld (Institute for Animal Science and Animal Behaviour Mariensee), Dr. J.Claus and Dr.R.Reents (VIT Verden (Vereinigte Informationssysteme Tierhaltung w.V)).

As the result of Estonian-German joint project, the following models are being used for genetic evaluation:

The newly established private farms and many developments in the services caused the need for the better link between clients and the milk lab and data processing unit. In 1997 ARC started to develop county offices where the milk producers were given advice on herd management. The field service also employed dairy herd feeding specialist and an udder health and quality milk production specialist. Their main task was to consult producers, but also train the milk recording assistants and support the electronic service development. New services were provided by Animal Recording Centre - udder health reports and herd's feeding programs assessment using urea content in milk. New services were offered to the breeding and AI organizations. Field service personnel were trained in the relevant organizations in Germany in the framework of the above-mentioned project. (Landeskontrollverband für Leistungsprüfung - Dr. J. Bergmann, Dr.R.Wolf (Rinderzucht Schleswig-Holstein e.G. (RSH)), Ing. H.W.Prahl (Landeskontrollverband für Leistungs- und Qualitätsprüfung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern e.V). In 1997 Field Service Supervisors participated the courses provided by EU PHAREproject: ( DLV Agriconsult (G.Staring, J. Castelein). Few people were trained in Canada (International Livestock Management School -ILMS) and USA (Cochran Fellowship Program, USDA-Land o' Lakes).

Estonia has a 100% B-control system, as all the recording assistants are still sole proprietorships or hired by the owners of animals. Field Service, however is constantly supervising their work and qualification.

Since the ARC is still an State Agency, there has been continuos discussion if ARC should not be a farmers' organisation. A lot of debates were related to the issues whether and how much the clients of ARC (farmers, breeding and AI organizations, dairy plants, etc.) should have a say in management of a government institution. The time has proved that a government institution can be effective and serve the best interests of its customers quite successfully in case if the clients cover the service costs. A government institution can also involve customers' responsibility and participation, establishing advisory boards. Estonian Animal Breeders' Association of (EABA) has partly served the function. The meetings of EABA management established a panel where it became possible to discuss animal recording development combined with many other issues, later also issues related to legislation.

In addition to performance data the previous and current system gathers and stores data on parentage of all the animals under recording, though Herd Book maintenance is one of the primary responsibilities of breeding organisations. Therefore, a situation emerged where the associations kept manual filing systems on parentage in addition to the data d kept in ARC data system. This was an area where ARC could have provided a service, as regards electronic Herd Book would mean termination of manual work. The breeding organizations, however still preferred the manual work and this created additional work for ARC and publishing the Herd Book on regular basis. The situation changed in 1997 when the new central database management involved an option for Herd Book offices for daily on-line access to animal data in central database and the number of tele-working places will increase in the future.

Until 1994, ARC had the task to process the producer provided data on inseminations, but today the recording is being done only in artificial insemination (AI) stations. AI, Herd Book, milk recording and Cattle Register is integrated into one single database and generally only one data entry is performed (except errors). As a result of such a co-operation the amount of work has decreased remarkably while the quality of information has improved. The single identity of an animal in the electronic system and on the field (due to visual identification) has improved the efficiency of system management substantially.

Beside, all the new applications of a new data base system have been developed in co-operation with breeding organisations and other clientele. As the fixed cost related to animal data base maintenance and administration are still quite high, an urgent need was to use the collected information more extensively. In 1994, ARC made the veterinary authority a proposal to collaborate in the animal data electronic processing, in animal-farm related data system management to downsize the cost of development and avoid duplication The co-operation failed, as the veterinary system was not ready to work with electronic data processing yet. So ARC is holding all the animal registers in the country.

The idea of integrated agricultural information was still developed further as the new data system was quite efficient and this released many competent and experienced staff. Soon the data bases of ARC performed to exercise EU operations and were used for paying government subsidies. By summer 1997 it had become apparent that EU accession needs a complete picture on the situation in agriculture, therefore most of the agricultural registers were added to the services of Animal Recording Centre.

Meanwhile, as the agricultural advisory system developed, we also discussed the option to start providing advisers with support services, but these were not used on a more extensive basis. Animal Recording Centre started to provide its own advisory service and also initiated development of advisory service components.

Fast development of ARC enabled us to take on additional tasks of national importance and performance recording is only one of many services.

In autumn 1998, Agricultural Registers' and Information Centre (ARIC) was established on the basis of former Animal Recording Centre. As Estonia is small in size and resources there is a need to use those available very efficiently. The development of other services mostly related to EU accession has provided means for investment and staff development. Thanks for the state support, service fees have kept low despite the massive need of investment and constantly decreasing farms and cows and consequently increasing fixed costs. The new focus on other information services has however, has not reduced attention on development on animal performance recording services.

Since 1999 the breeding organisations and producers have been given an opportunity to make use of animal recording database and services available in Internet. This option is now being used by all breeding organizations, the State Breeding Inspection and research institutes and 20 farms use of this service. Generally there is a great interest as they receive the test-milking results 1-2 days faster than in the normal course (by mail) and they have daily access to the most up-to-date on their herd data 24 hours a day. This service is becoming popular in Estonia, especially for large farms with many stables. Overall Internet is widely used in other state and private sectors (E.g. more than 100 000 people use Internet banking in Estonia).

Since 1998, the milk analysing laboratory participates in laboratory proficiency tests CECELAIT ((Chaines D'Analyses CECELAIT proficiency interlaboratory study) and ICAR interlaboratory proficiency study on regular basis. The laboratory organises regular comparative tests with other three Estonian laboratories. At the present moment, 12 dairies are being the customers of the laboratory for bulk milk test. The laboratory determines the fat, protein and lactose content of raw milk, but also somatic cell and bacteria count and freezing point of milk. The bacteria count test is automatic since summer 1999. The lab makes use of two automatic bacteria counters Bactoscan 8000S being powerful enough to meet the requirements of the republic as the whole.
On 01.01.2000 there were 106,000 cows under animal recording, the number of herds has increased to 2900 and the productivity per cow has decreased ca 200 kg per year. 75% of cows in Estonia are being under dairy herd recording. Today, about 80 people are involved with providing animal recording services in Agricultural Registers' and Information Centre

The discussion if the animal recording services should be privatised or not is postponed for two main reasons. Firstly, farmers are satisfied with the current service and the investment and development is provided by state. Secondly, the newly established breeding associations are still in the process to of reorganizations. The merge of breeders'organizations is in process as there is need to improve in terms efficiency and quality of services to the members and come together for investments, training and innovation. As reforming of farmers' organisation takes time, we can expect the privatisation of recording organisation become a topic within next years and there is presently no motivation to establish another farmer's organization for milk recording.

Claus J. Seminar on Animal Model Breeding Values: How to understand and how to make use of them. 19-20 November 1996, Pirgu, Estonia.
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Murulo T. Development of milk recording services in Estonia, Cattle Identification and Milk Recording in Central and Eastern European Countries, August 23, 1998. Warsaw, Poland
Murulo T., Pedastsaar K. Data processing and computer developments of milk recording in Estonia, Cattle Identification and Milk Recording in Central and Eastern European Countries, August 23, 1998. Warsaw, Poland
Reents R., Uba M., Pedastsaar K., Vares T. Implementation of animal model for production traits of dairy cattle in Estonia. INTERBULL meeting, June 23-24, 1996. Veldhoven, The Netherlands.
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