DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	Switzerland	
Main trait group1 NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Conformation	
Breed(s)	Brown Swiss	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2 Attach an appendix if needed	4 measured body traits; 21 descriptive traits (5 body, 4 feet & legs, 7 udder, 5 teats); 4 final scores (frame, rump, feet & legs, udder)	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Linear description and scoring by official classifiers	
Time period for data inclusion	Data since 1994; chest width, thurl position, overall frame, overall rump and overall udder since 2003; udder balance since 2008 	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	All records of cows (all lactations) with a linear description in 1st lactation	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records		
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)		
Sire categories	90% of data from AI-sires; 10% from NS-sires; all data (AI first and second crop and NS) are used in the evaluations; 80 % of first calving cows are inseminated with young bulls; 60-80 bulls are tested each year.	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	none	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	MT-RP-BLUP-AM, Body, feet & leg, udder, teat and final score traits are analysed in five separate runs (one run per group of traits).	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Herd*3-year-period (R); classifier*half-year (F); year*season of classification*age at classification (F); stage of lactation (F); time (hour) of classification (F); housing system (F); PE effect of cow (R)	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	none	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Unknown parents grouped by sex of parent, country of origin and year of birth of animal	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	none	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	Use Appendix GE for heritability/genetic variance estimates; for multiple-trait genetic evaluations, provide genetic correlation estimates between traits separately.
Use also appendices PR, CO, BCO, SM, as applicable, if you participate in the international genetic evaluations of Interbull	
System validation		
Expression of genetic evaluations If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	Standardized to a mean of 100 and a genetic standard deviation of  12: RBV = ((EBV – mean EBV of base animals) / genetic standard deviation) * 12 + 100	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Rolling base yearly updated in April, defined by cows born 6 to 8 calendar years ago, that have own records included in the genetic evaluation: e.g. April 2015: cows born 2007 to 2009	
Calculation of reliability	Reliabilities are approximated assuming a ST-RP-AM	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	Bulls: Daughters with observations for the trait usu in at least 10 herds Cows: own record	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	3	
Use in total merit index4	GZW (TMI) = 45 % production, 5 % longevity, 13 % conformation, 12 % SCS, 5 % persistency of lactation, 20 % female fertility	
Anticipated changes in the near future	none	
Key reference on methodology applied		
Key organization: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Evaluation Center:
Qualitas AG
Chamerstrasse 56, CH-6300 Zug, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)41 768 92 92
Fax: +41 (0)41 768 92 99
e-mail: zws@qualitasag,ch
web site: http://www.qualitasag.ch

EBV’s published by herdbook organisation:
Swiss Brown Cattle Breeders’ Federation Chamerstrasse 56, CH-6300 Zug, Switzerland
web site: http://www.braunvieh.ch	
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).

Parameters for national genetic evaluations for conformation traits as provided to Interbull 
Country (or countries):	Switzerland	
Main trait group:	Conformation	
Breed:	Brown Swiss	

Trait	Definition	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Stature	Height at Sacrum (cm)	0.43	5.4406	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 2.3325; d = 100	
Chest width	Chest width	0.29	0.6093	a = 0.0; c =12;
b = 0.78056; d = 100	
Body depth	Body Depth (cm)	0.37	3.3060	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 1.81824; d = 100	
Angularity	Muscling	0.30	0.4200	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.64804; d = 100	
Rump angle	Rump Angle	0.39	0.5567	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.74614; d = 100	
Rump Width	Rump Width (cm)	0.42	1.8268	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.1.35161; d = 100	
Rear Leg Side View	Hock Angle	0.21	0.2576	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.50758; d = 100	
Pasterns/Foot Angle	Pasterns	0.13	0.1485	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.38529; d = 100	
Deep Heel (Hoof Height)	Hoof Height	0.10	0.1436	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.37899; d = 100	
Fore Udder Attachment	Fore Udder Attachment	0.23	0.5814	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.76252; d = 100	
Rear Udder Attachment Height	Rear Udder Attachment Height	0.23	0.3943	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.62791; d = 100	
Rear Udder Attachment Width	Rear Udder Attachment Width	0.19	0.4545	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.6742; d = 100	
Udder Support	Suspensory Ligament	0.21	0.4237	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.6509; d = 100	
Udder Depth	Udder Depth	0.32	0.6116	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.78204; d = 100	
Front Teat Placement	Front Teat Placement	0.34	0.4947	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.70332; d = 100	
Teat Length	Teat Length	0.37	0.6320	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.79500; d = 100	
Rear Teat Placement	Rear Teat Placement	0.32	0.4122	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.64201; d = 100	
Overall Conformation Score	Overall conformation score	0.26	0.8018	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.89543; d = 100	
Overall Udder Score	Overall udder score	0.29	1.7751	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 1.33233; d = 100	
Overall Feet & Leg Score	Overall feet & leg score	0.17	1.2233	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 1.10604; d = 100	
Top line	Top line	0.24	0.3275	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.57228; d = 100	
Rump length	Rump length (cm)	0.36	1.4286	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 1.19523; d = 100	
Thurl position	Thurl position	0.23	0.3365	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.58005; d = 100	
Hock quality	Hock quality	0.24	0.5930	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.77003; d = 100	
Fore udder length	For udder length	0.20	0.4499	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.67072; d = 100	
Udder balance	Udder balance	0.24	0.3316	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.57585; d = 100	
Teat direction	Teat direction	0.28	0.2571	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.50704; d = 100	
Teat thickness	Teat thickness	0.37	0.4788	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.69192; d = 100	
Overall Frame Score	Overall Frame Score	0.25	2.8608	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 1.69140; d = 100	
Overall Rump Score	Overall Rump Score	0.17	1.0742	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 1.03642; d = 100	
a	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.
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.