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!	Production	
Breed(s)	All dairy and dual-purpose breeds	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	1.	Milk
2.	Fat
3.	Protein 
Records are kg of yield produced within a 24-hours test-day period and EBV are average 305-d yields (kg) across lactation 1,2 and 3
4.	Fat percentage
5.	Protein percentage
EBV%=(EBVYi*100)-(EBVM*%Bi)/(EBVM+BM), where 
EBV%= estimated breeding value for fat or protein percentage
EBVYi= estimated breeding value for fat or protein yield
EBVM= estimated breeding value for milk yield
%Bi= average fat or protein percentage of the base animals
BM= average milk yield of the base animals	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Milk recording 	
Time period for data inclusion	Data since 1973 (included, calving date)	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	3 parities	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Valid birth date, time frame	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	No extension	
Sire categories	All sires	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	Age inside lactation-stage-breed, additive	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	ML-MT-TDM-RR-AM (multi-lactation-multi-trait)	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Herd-test-day (F), Minor stage of lactation (F), Major stage of lactation x Age x Season (F), Stage of lactation x Days carried calf (F), Herd x year RR (R), PE (R) 	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	No	
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 before INTERBULL, yes after	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	See appendices GE and PR	
System validation	Trend validations (Method III) & Mendelian Sampling test validation	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	EBV defined as mean EBV of the three lactations for milk, fat and protein yields, respectively	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	All cows with production born in 2015 

In 2025 cows born in 2020	
Calculation of reliability	Based on INTERBULL EDC computations	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	REL  50% for: 
•	young sires 
•	imported sires if only 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	Heterogeneous variance adjustment
Multi-lactation (>3)	
Key reference on methodology applied	Auvray, B. and Gengler N. [2002]. Feasibility of a Walloon test day model and study of its potential as tool for selection and management. INTERBULL Bulletin 29: 123-127.
Gengler, N. and Wiggans G. [2001]. Heterogeneity in (co)variance structure in test-day yields. INTERBULL Bulletin 27: 179-183.
Croquet C, Mayeres P., Gillon A., Vanderick S., and Gengler N. (2006). Inbreeding Depression for Global and Partial Economic Indexes, Production, Type, and Functional Traits. J. Dairy Sci.  89: 2257-2267. 
Vanderick S., Croquet C., Soyeurt H., Hammami H., Mayeres P., Gengler N. (2006). Integration of longevity into the Walloon genetic evaluation system. INTERBULL Bulletin 35.
	
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Organisation responsible for genetic evaluations:
Association Wallonne de l’Elevage Asbl (AWE)
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:	Production		
Breed (repeat as necessary):	All dairy and dual-purpose breeds		

Trait	Definition	ITBa	h2b	genetic
varianceb	official proof
standardisation formulac	
Milk yield 			0.41	301265		
			0.30	296532		
			0.31	322263		
Pooled 		X	0.38	280425	EBV	
Fat yield 			0.43	502.6		
			0.37	581.6		
			0.34	595.7		
Pooled		X	0.43	522.6	EBV	
Protein yield			0.40	253.1		
			0.32	283.6		
			0.32	302.5		
Pooled 		X	0.41	261.5	EBV	

						

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 PR

Parameters for national genetic evaluations for production traits as provided to Interbull

Country (or countries):	BELGIUM (Walloon Region)	
Main trait group:	Production	
Breed(s):	All dairy and dual-purpose breeds	

Trait	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Milk yield:

Pooled 	0.41
0.30
0.31
0.38	301265
296532
322263
280425	

EBV	
Fat yield:

Pooled	0.43
0.37
0.34
0.43	502.6
581.6
595.7
522.6	

EBV	
Protein yield:

Pooled	0.40
0.32
0.32
0.41	253.1
283.6
302.5
261.5	

EBV	
a	If lactations, or part of lactations, are treated as separate traits, provide heritability estimates and genetic variances separately for each lactation, as well as for all lactations pooled, i.e. for the trait submitted to Interbull.
b	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.

TABLE: Genetic correlations above, phenotypic below and heritabilities on diagonal.

	M1	F1	P1	M2	F2	P2	M3	F3	P3	
M1	0.41	0.88	0.95	0.87	0.81	0.87	0.85	0.79	0.84	
F1	0.80	0.43	0.91	0.82	0.89	0.85	0.79	0.88	0.82	
P1	0.92	0.87	0.40	0.86	0.85	0.90	0.85	0.83	0.87	
M2	0.76	0.64	0.73	0.30	0.90	0.95	0.90	0.84	0.90	
F2	0.60	0.72	0.64	0.80	0.37	0.93	0.85	0.94	0.88	
P2	0.66	0.64	0.68	0.90	0.89	0.32	0.90	0.87	0.94	
M3	0.64	0.57	0.62	0.76	0.64	0.70	0.31	0.86	0.92	
F3	0.56	0.67	0.60	0.64	0.72	0.66	0.85	0.34	0.90	
P3	0.61	0.60	0.62	0.73	0.68	0.71	0.91	0.86	0.32