DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEM

Country (or countries)	Switzerland	
Main trait group1	Conformation	
Breed(s)	Red Holstein	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	3 measured body traits; 23 descriptive traits (7 body, 5 feet & legs, 7 udder,
7 teats); final scores (body, feet & legs, udder, teats)	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Data collection by Breeders’ Federation experts on individual farm	
Time period for data inclusion	June 1992	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	none	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Exclusion of data from non-randomly selected scorings	
Sire categories	none	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	none	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	MT-RP-BLUP-AM
Body, feet & leg, udder, teat and final score are analyzed in separate runs
overall score is calculated from the 4 estimated composite position scores	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Herd-group * year * quarter year (F); classifier * year (F); calving age (F); stage of lactation (F); time of classification (F); pasture (F); housings system (F); PE effect of cow (R)	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	none	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	yes	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	no	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	See PART 2 for heritability/genetic variance estimates; for multiple-trait genetic evaluations, provide genetic correlation estimates between traits separately	
System validation	Interbull validation methods II and III	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardized (e.g. RBV), give standardization formula on PART 2	Standardized to a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 12
RBV =100+ ((BV – mean BV of base animals)/genetic standard deviation)*12	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	reference base for Red Holstein calculated from the mean of cows born in 1993, next change 2006	
Calculation of reliability		
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	Publication if at least 10 daughters with records in first lactation	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	4, at the same time as Interbull publications	
Use in total merit index4	yes (0.25 * (.4 * overall conformation + .2 * overall feet&leg + 0.3 * overall udder + .1 * overall teats)),
standardized to a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 12	
Anticipated changes in the near future	Linear description to be extended to most regions 	
Key reference on methodology applied	-	
Key organization: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Swiss Simmental and Red & White Cattle Breeders’ Federation
Schützenstrasse 10	CH-3055 Zollikofen	Switzerland 
Phone: +41 31 910 6111	Fax: +41 31 910 6199
email: info@fleckvieh.ch	website: www.redonline.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 extension or 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/framesida-general.htm) and indicate random (R) or fixed (F).
4) Please give economic weights and indicate how they are expressed (preferably in genetic standard deviation units).
DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEM

Country (or countries)	Switzerland	
Main trait group	Conformation	
Breed (repeat as necessary)	Red Holstein	

Trait	Definition	h2*	genetic
variance*	official proof
standardization formula**	
Stature	Height at withers,
measured in cm 	(WH)	0.45	5.45	a= 0.717	b = 2.336
c= 12	d= 100	
Chest width	Distance between fore legs, at shoulder height	(BRB)	0.20	0.22	a= -0.141	b = 0.472
c= 12	d= 100	
Body depth	Depth of the last rib,
side view	(FLT)	0.36	0.39	a= 0.316	b = 0.626
c= 12	d= 100	
Angularity	not recorded	--	--	--	
Rump angle	Angle of the rump from hips to pins	(BNE)	0.37	0.39	a= -0.203	b = 0.628
c= 12	d= 100	
Rump width	Distance between pins
	(BRE)	0.24	0.25	a= -0.016	b = 0.497
c= 12	d= 100	
Rear leg set	Angle of the hock in the rear leg, side view	(SGW)	0.27	0.23	a= 0.079	b = 0.476
c= 12	d= 100	
Rear leg rear view	Angle of rear legs (SHI)	0.21	0.31	a= -0.132	b = 0.554
c= 12	d= 100	
Foot angle	Height of rear heel,
side view	(KLS)	0.22	0.18	a= -0.230	b = 0.423
c= 12	d= 100	
Fore udder	Attachment between body and fore udder	(AVO)	0.31	0.44	a= 0.172	b = 0.665
c= 12	d= 100	
Rear udder height	Rear udder attachment height	(AHI)	0.36	0.39	a= 0.314	b = 0.621
c= 12	d= 100	
Udder support	Visibility of the suspensory ligament, rear view	(ZBA)	0.34	0.39	a= 0.092	b = 0.628
c= 12	d= 100	
Udder depth	Distance between hock and bottom of udder	(ETI)	0.34	0.32	a= 0.150	b = 0.566
c= 12	d= 100	
Teat placement	Placement of front teats, front view	(ZVV)	0.48	0.49	a= 0.188	b = 0.700
c= 12	d= 100	
Teat length	Length of front teats,
side view	(ZLA)	0.51	0.79	a= -0.276	b = 0.888
c= 12	d= 100	
Overall conformation
score	Overall composite score
	(GES)	0.34	1.87	a= 0.518	b = 1.366
c= 12	d= 100	
Overall udder score	Composite score for udder except teats	(EUT)	0.37	5.19	a= 1.286	b = 2.278
c= 12	d= 100	
Overall feet&leg score	Composite score for feet & legs	(FUN)	0.22	3.03	a= -0.273	b = 1.741
c= 12	d= 100	
*	If 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.
**	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.