DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	Switzerland	
Main trait group1 NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Conformation	
Breed(s)	Jersey	
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 1998; chest width, thurl position, overall frame, overall rump and overall udder since 2003; udder balance since 2008 	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	1st parity animals	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Only the first scoring of a cow is used. For inclusion of a record age at first calving has to be between 17 and 50 months and days in milk has to be between 1 and 400 days.	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)		
Sire categories	most of the sires are foreign proven bulls	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	none	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	MT-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); season of classification*age at classification (F); stage of lactation (F); time (hour) of classification (F); housing system (F)	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	none	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Phantom parent groups are assigned based on country of origin, birth year, breed and selection path.	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	none	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	See appendix CO and appendix 1	
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	Cows born 6 to 8 years before present year.
Base is updated every April.	
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	Bulls: Daughters with observations for the trait usu in at least 10 herds Cows: own record	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	3 (following Interbull releases)
	
Use in total merit index4	no	
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 organisatio:
Swiss Brown Cattle Breeders’ Federation Chamerstrasse 56, CH-6300 Zug, Switzerland
web site: http://www.braunvieh.ch
and
Swiss Jersey Cattle Association
web site: http://www.jersey.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 CO

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

Trait	Definition	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Stature	Height at Sacrum (cm)	0.59	6.4466	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 2.5390; d = 100	
Chest width	Chest width	0.18	0.2955	a = 0.0; c =12;
b = 0.5436; d = 100	
Body depth	Body Depth (cm)	0.26	2.0480	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 1.4311; d = 100	
Angularity	Muscling	0.19	0.2644	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.5161; d = 100	
Rump angle	Rump Angle	0.28	0.3593	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.5994 d = 100	
Rump Width	Rump Width (cm)	0.25	0.7403	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.8604; d = 100	
Rear Leg Set	Hock Angle	0.21	0.2072	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.4552; d = 100	
Rear Leg Rear View	Hock Quality	0.15	0.3503	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.5919; d = 100	
Foot Angle	Pasterns	0.25	0.3052	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.5525; d = 100	
Fore Udder Attachment	Fore Udder Attachment	0.27	0.5717	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.7561; d = 100	
Rear Udder Height	Rear Udder Attachment Height	0.20	0.2920	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.5404; d = 100	
Udder Support	Suspensory Ligament	0.24	0.4001	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.6326; d = 100	
Udder Depth	Udder Depth	0.46	0.6631	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.8143; d = 100	
Front Teat Placement	Front Teat Placement	0.45	0.7149	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.8455; d = 100	
Teat Length	Teat Length	0.51	0.9008	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.9491; d = 100	
Rear Teat Placement	Rear Teat Placement	0.34	0.6350	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 0.7969; d = 100	
Overall Conformation Score	Overall conformation score	0.22	1.8372	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 1.3554; d = 100	
Overall Udder Score	Overall udder score	0.30	2.2370	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 1.4957; d = 100	
Overall Feet & Leg Score	Overall feet & leg score	0.15	1.4522	a = 0.0; c =12; b = 1.2051 d = 100	
Locomotion					
Body Condition Score					
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.

Appendix 1

Heritabilities and genetic correlations

Traits are analysed within blocks. Some traits within the blocks are evaluated by Interbull and some are not. For traits evaluated by Interbull the usual abbreviation is given. In the following tables heritabilities are on the diagonals and genetic correlations are above the diagonals.

Block 1 
wrhm: height at withers (measurement in cm)
belm: rump length (measurement in cm)
ran: rump angle (linear score)
obl: top line (linear score)
ang: angularity (linear score)
cwi: chest width (linear score)
lau: thurl position (linear score)
sta: stature (measurement in cm)
bde: body depth (measurement in cm)
rwi: rump width (measurement in cm)

	wrhm	belm	ran	obl	ang	cwi	lau	sta	bde	rwi	
wrhm	0.51	0.70	0.12	0.14	0.10	0.62	0.14	0.96	0.44	0.52	
belm		0.34	0.24	0.05	0.25	0.66	0.38	0.75	0.50	0.34	
ran			0.28	-0.01	0.24	0.22	0.78	0.26	0.11	0.20	
obl				0.28	0.30	0.05	0.21	0.17	-0.12	-0.15	
ang					0.19	0.65	0.47	0.14	0.11	0.27	
cwi						0.18	0.30	0.62	0.63	0.58	
lau							0.20	0.24	0.09	0.04	
sta								0.59	0.44	0.53	
bde									0.26	0.29	
rwi										0.25	

Block 2
rls: rear leg set (linear score)
rlr: rear leg rear view (linear score)
fan: foot angle (linear score)
kla: hoof height (linear score)

	rls	rlr	fan	kla	
rls	0.21	0.55	-0.49	-0.45	
rlr		0.15	-0.28	-0.34	
fan			0.25	0.68	
kla				0.13	

Block 3
lve: fore udder length (linear score)
ahb: rear udder attachment width (linear score)
ruh: rear udder height (linear score)
fua: fore udder attachment (linear score)
ude: udder depth (linear score)
usu: udder support  (linear score)
eub: udder balance  (linear score)

	lve	ahb	ruh	fua	ude	usu	eub	
lve	0.24	0.34	-0.02	-0.15	-0.38	-0.18	0.13	
ahb		0.23	0.50	-0.01	-0.25	0.03	-0.16	
ruh			0.20	0.44	0.37	0.12	0.28	
fua				0.27	0.74	0.13	0.28	
ude					0.46	0.21	0.43	
usu						0.24	0.01	
eub							0.24	

Block 4
zid: teat thickness (linear score)
ftl: (front) teat length (linear score)
ftp: (front) teat placement (linear score)
rtp: rear teat placement (linear score)
zst: teat direction (linear score)
	zid	ftl	ftp	rtp	zst	
zid	0.36	0.27	0.09	-0.18	-0.19	
ftl		0.51	-0.22	-0.14	-0.28	
ftp			0.45	0.75	0.79	
rtp				0.34	0.88	
zst					0.29	

Block 5
for: overall body score old
gli_alt: overall feet & legs score old
eut_alt: overall udder score old
zit: overall teats score
rah: overall frame score
bec: overall rump score
ofl: overall feet & legs score
ous: overall udder score

	for	gli_alt	eut_alt	zit	rah	bec	ofl	ous	
for	0.23	0.04	0.26	0.17	0.86	0.61	0.11	0.22	
gli_alt		0.21	0.32	0.16	-0.19	0.13	0.94	0.39	
eut_alt			0.25	0.47	0.19	0.13	0.33	0.89	
zit				0.36	0.12	0.18	0.24	0.62	
rah					0.21	0.44	-0.10	0.11	
bec						0.17	0.23	0.09	
ofl							0.15	0.42	
ous								0.30