Status as of: 2021-02-04

Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	BELGIUM (Walloon Region)	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Female Fertility – Pregnancy Rate	
Breed(s)	All dairy and dual-purpose breeds	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	Pregnancy Rate (PR) is defined as the percentage of nonpregnant cows that become pregnant during each 21-day period. PR is derived from DO according to : 
PR= 21/(DO - 45 + 11)
where 45 represents the voluntary waiting period in our production circumstances and 11 half of reproductive cycle.	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Milk recording	
Time period for data inclusion	Data since 1980 included	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	First ten parities are included	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	DO < 21 and DO > 355 were eliminated	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	No extension	
Sire categories	All sires	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 		
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	ST-RP-AM	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	F: Year x month of calving, parity group (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and more) x age at calving (2 month classes) x season of calving (3 month seasons) and herd x parity group (1; 2 and more) 
R: Herd x year of calving and PE	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	N/A	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Yes, genetics groups based on selection path, type of breed, degree of Holsteinisation, origin (North-America vs Europe) and time	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	No blending	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	See Appendix GE	
System validation	Trend validation (method III)	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	Expressed as PR in percentage
Transformed to RBV (average 100, SD 10)	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	SD for all cows with production born in 2015 used to standardize to 10 points
In 2025 cows born in 2020	
Calculation of reliability	Based on INTERBULL EDC computations	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	First sire need to have production evaluation
REL ≥ 30 % for :
•	young sires
•	imported sires if domestic results
•	imported sires with INTERBULL results	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	3	
Use in total merit index4	V€G= V€L + V€F + V€T
V€G= V€L + V€F + V€T
V€L= -0.06 EBVmilk + 3.62 EBVfat + 4.00 EBVprot
V€F 1.79 * RBVSCS + 1.79 RBVlong + 1.79 * RBVfert + 0.89 * RBVCEd + 0.89 * RBVCEm 
-	all functional traits expressed on a 10-unit scale, means of 100 subtracted
-	coefficients only approximate as computations done using selection index procedure estimating jointly V€F, combined RBVlong and combined RBVfert from EBVs for direct longevity, indirect longevity, SCS, indirect fertility and calving ease traits.
V€T= V€M + V€C + V€P
V€M= -4.11 RBVrear leg set + (2.06 RBVrear leg rear view) + (10.54 RBVbone quality) + (9.00 RBVfeet&legs)
V€C=-4.32 RBVoverall development + 11.11 RBVudder corrected final conformation
V€P= 8.64 RBVfore udder + 14.19 RBVrear udder height + 5.55 RBVudder support + 14.19 RBVudder depth + 2.47 RBVfront teat placement + (-11.11 RBVrear teat placement ) + (-5.55 RBVteat length)	
Anticipated changes in the near future		
Key reference on methodology applied	Mayeres P., S. Vanderick, C. Croquet, H. Soyeurt, H. Hammami and N. Gengler. (2006). Genetic evaluation of female fertility for Walloon dairy and dual purpose cows using a parity random regression model: first results. Interbull Bulletin n°34: 42-46.
Vanderick S., C. Bastin and N.Gengler. (2009). Expressing Female Fertility in the Walloon Region of Belgium : How to do ? INTERBULL Bulletin n°40 : 10-16.	
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Organisation responsible for genetic evaluations:
Association Wallonne de l’Elevage Asbl (awé)
4, rue des Champs Elysées
B-5590 Ciney

Computing center
University of Liège (ULiège)
Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (GxABT)
Agriculture, Bio-engineering and Chemistry Department
Animal Science Unit
Numerical Genetics, Genomics and Modeling 
Passage des Déportés, 2
B-5030 Gembloux
Belgium

Phone: + 32/81/622206
Fax:     + 32/81/622115
E-mail : nicolas.gengler@ulg.ac.be  
WEB site for publication of sire breeding values:
              http://www.elinfo.be	
1) Either: Production (e.g. milk, fat, protein), Conformation, Health (e.g. mastitis resistance, milk somatic cell, resistance to diseases other than mastitis), Longevity, Calving (e.g. stillbirth, calving ease), Female fertility (e.g. non-return rate, interval between reproductive events, number of AI’s, heat strength), Workability (e.g. milking speed, temperament), Beef production, Efficiency (e.g. body weight, energy balance, body conditioning score), or Other traits.
2) Indicate frequencies per category if the trait is categorical and specify transformation of data if practiced.
3) Use abbreviations for most common effects (see document with list of abbreviations at http://www-interbull.slu.se/service_documentation/General/list_of_abbreviations.rtf) and indicate random (R) or fixed (F).
4) Please give economic weights and indicate how they are expressed (preferably in genetic standard deviation units).

Form GE	Appendix GE

Parameters used in genetic evaluation

Country (or countries):	BELGIUM (Walloon Region)	
Main trait group:	Female Fertility – Pregnancy Rate	
Breed (repeat as necessary):	All dairy and dual-purpose breeds	

Trait	Definition	ITBa	h2b	genetic
varianceb	official proof
standardisation formulac	
						
Pregnancy Rate 	PR= 21/(DO - 45 + 11)
	X	0.039	24.532		
a	Indicate, with X, traits that are submitted to Interbull for international genetic evaluations.
b	If repeated records are treated as separate traits, provide heritability estimates and genetic variances separately for each trait, as well as for all traits pooled, i.e. for the trait submitted to Interbull.
c	Expressed as follows:
StandEval=((eval-a)/b)*c+d where a=mean of the base adjustment, b=standard deviation of the base, c=standard deviation of expression (include sign if scale is reversed), and d=base of expression.

Form GE	Appendix FF

Parameters for national genetic evaluations for female fertility traits as provided to Interbull

Country (or countries):	BELGIUM (Walloon Region)	
Main trait group:	Female Fertility – Pregnancy Rate	
Breed (repeat as necessary):	All dairy and dual-purpose breeds	

Trait	h2	Genetic
Variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Maiden heifer’s ability to conceive:				
Lactating cow’s ability to start cycling:	0.039	24.532	EBV	
Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 1:				
Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 2:	0.039	24.532	EBV	
Lactating cow’s interval calving-conception:	0.039	24.532	EBV	
a	Expressed as follows:
StandEval=((eval-a)/b)*c+d where a=mean of the base adjustment, b=standard deviation of the base, c=standard deviation of expression (include sign if scale is reversed), and d=base of expression.