Rank mates and pairings

The Breeding plan ranks candidates against a goal you set, and shows why each one ranks where it does.

Set up a ranking

1. Select Breeding plan in the top bar.
2. Under What are you planning?, choose Find a mate for one animal or Find the best pair in my program.
3. Set your limits: species and breed, Max offspring COI %, and Avoid at-risk pairings. That last one is on by default, and it leaves out any pair with a chance of affected offspring for a condition both animals were tested for.
4. If you want, add Candidate must-haves, such as an age range, a registered animal, or an animal listed as available.
5. Under Rank the eligible options, choose what matters most: Reduce known genetic health risk or Preserve genetic diversity.
6. Select Find current matches for one animal, or Rank pairings for your program.

Read the ranking

• Each result shows Why this match or Why this pairing, then Concerns or missing information, and a Next step.
• When the records can’t tell candidates apart, AnimalTrace lists them as eligible and says they aren’t ranked yet, instead of inventing an order.
• Offspring inbreeding only counts ancestors on record. For animals you added yourself, whose parents aren’t on record, it usually reads 0%, which doesn’t mean the pair is unrelated. See check a pairing.
• Candidates can include other owners’ animals only when those owners have opted in to network discovery and you are allowed to see their records.

Keep a plan current

In program mode, select Keep watching to save your criteria. A watch can flag a changed animal in the candidate pool after a supported update. Open the plan under Saved plans and run a fresh comparison before relying on a pairing.