Breed Composition

The Breed composition insight card estimates an animal’s breed makeup as a set of percentages, built from the breeds recorded on its ancestors. It gives you an approximate answer to “how much of each breed is this animal?” without you having to work it out by hand.

How It’s Calculated

Cattle360 walks the ancestor tree and splits each animal’s makeup evenly between its two parents — an animal is half its sire and half its dam, each grandparent contributes a quarter, and so on. When it reaches an ancestor that has a recorded breed and no further parents in the tree, that ancestor contributes its breed for its share of the makeup.

The percentages are rolled up by breed and always total 100%.

The “Unknown” Slice

Where the tree runs out of ancestors or an ancestor has no breed recorded, that portion of the makeup is grouped into an Unknown slice. This keeps the math honest — a large Unknown percentage is a signal that more breed or lineage data would sharpen the estimate. The card only appears when there is at least some recorded breed data to show.

Reading the Card

• Each breed is listed with a bar and a percentage, sorted from the largest share down.
• The Unknown portion, if any, is shown so the percentages add up to 100%.
• The caption notes the figures are estimated from recorded ancestry — they are only as accurate as the breeds on your ancestor records.

Improving the Estimate

• Record breed on your foundation animals. Breed set on herd bulls and cows flows down into every descendant’s composition.
• Add ancestors as Reference animals. Outside sires with a recorded breed let a calf’s composition reflect its real genetics rather than falling into Unknown.
• Fill in deeper generations. The more of the three-generation tree that carries a breed, the smaller the Unknown slice.

Tips

• Treat it as an estimate. Composition is inferred from pedigree, not measured, so use it as a guide rather than a registered percentage.
• A shrinking Unknown slice means better data. If Unknown dominates, focus on recording breed on the ancestors that appear in the tree.