Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	Switzerland	
Main trait group1 NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Female Fertility	
Breed(s)	Holstein (Black&White and Red&White)	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2 Attach an appendix if needed	Heifers Non Return Rate after 56 Days (hco, NRH), binary
Interval from Calving to First Service (crc, ICF), days
Cows Non Return Rate after 56 Days (cc1,NRC), binary
Cows Interval between first and last insemination (cc2, IFL), days	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Inseminations reported by AI-technicians via AI-companies (~90%) or directly by breeders (~1%), natural services reported by bull owners (~9%)	
Time period for data inclusion	All AI and NS records since 1994	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	Insemination records of heifers and all lactations of cows are included	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	First service within lactation used if: 30 days < ICF < 200 days;  Occurrence of a second service within 12 to 56 days after first service invokes a return event (Non Return Event = 0 or false); IFL<=300 days; records of animals that have been exposed to unobserved matings of natural service bulls in the respective parity are removed 	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)		
Sire categories	All sires	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	None	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	MT – BLUP – AM	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Age*parity (ICF, NRC, IFL, F); class of age at first service (NRH, F); sampling code (standard mating, progeny test bull, sexed semen) (NRH, NRC, IFL, F); year*month of calving (ICF, IFL, F); year*month of service (NRH, NRC, F); heterosis (Holstein x Simmental, 7 classes, F); recombination loss (Holstein x Simmental, 7 classes, F); herd*year (all, R); technician (NRH, NRC, R); service bull*batch of sperm collection (NRH, NRC, R); PE (ICF, NRC, IFL, 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, breed code and year of birth of animal	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	None	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	See appendix CO	
System validation		
Expression of genetic evaluations If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	Relative breeding values with mean 100 and standard deviation 12	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Rolling base yearly updated with the spring evaluation, defined by cows born 6 to 8 calendar years ago, that have own records included in the genetic evaluation: e.g. April 2014: cows born 2006 to 2008	
Calculation of reliability	Reliabilities are approximated using the approach of Tier and Meyer, 2004, J. Anim. Breed. Genet. 121.2, pp. 77–89, implemented in the program ApaX.	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	At least 10 Daughters with observations for the trait crc in at least 10 herds. EBVs are published for bulls only.	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	3	
Use in total merit index4	Yes. Economic weight (of a linear function of several fertility traits): 18%	
Anticipated changes in the near future	none	
Key reference on methodology applied	Gredler, B. and U. Schnyder, 2013, Interbull Bulletin No. 47. Schnyder U. & Stricker C., 2002, Interbull Bulletin No. 29, 138-141	
Key organisation: 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: info@qualitasag,ch
URL: http://www.qualitasag.ch

EBV’s published by herdbook organisations:
swissherdbook cooperative
Schützenstrasse 10, CH-3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland
URL: http://www.swissherdbook.ch
and
Holstein Switzerland
Rte de Grangeneuve 27, CH-1725 Posieux, Switzerland
Phone:  +41 26 305 59 12
URL: http://www.holstein.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).

Form GE	Appendix GE

Parameters used in genetic evaluation

Country (or countries):	Switzerland	
Main trait group:	Female Fertility	
Breed (repeat as necessary):	Holstein	

Trait	Definition	ITBa	h2b	genetic
varianceb	official proof
standardisation formulac	
NRH	Heifers Non Return Rate after 56 days (NRH), binary		0.013	0.00203	(ebv/σG)*12+100	
ICF	Interval from Calving to First Service (ICF), days		0.059	57.84	(ebv/σG)*12+100	
NRC	Cows Non Return Rate after 56 days (NRC), binary		0.024	0.00549	(ebv/σG)*12+100	
IFL	Interval between first and last insemination (IFL), days		0.045	134.04	(ebv/σG)*12+100	
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):	Switzerland	
Main trait group:	Female fertility	
Breed(s):	Holstein	

Trait name	h2	genetic
variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Maiden heifer’s ability to conceive:	0.013	0.00203	(ebv/σG)*12+100	
Lactating cow’s
ability to start cycling:	0.059	57.84	(ebv/σG)*12+100	
Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 1:	0.024	0.00549	(ebv/σG)*12+100	
Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 2:	0.045	134.04	(ebv/σG)*12+100	
Lactating cow’s interval calving-conception:				
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.

Genetic and residual covariances for countries with national multiple trait evaluations. Genetic covariances on upper diagonals, residual covariances on lower diagonals.
Trait name	Trait 1: 	Trait 2: 	Trait 3:	Trait 4:	Trait 5:	
Trait 1: Maiden heifer’s ability to conceive		0.11486	0.00244	-0.27427		
Trait 2: Lactating cow’s
ability to start cycling	0.00		0.20285	27.36968		
Trait 3: Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 1	0.00	0.01607		-0.64802		
Trait 4: Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 2	0.00	-92.5078	-8.0688			
Trait 5: : Lactating cow’s interval calving-conception