DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEM FOR PRODUCTION TRAITS

COUNTRY:	SWITZERLAND (CHE)	
BREED (repeat as necessary):	SIM and R&W	
Trait definitions and units of measurement 
Attach an appendix if needed	milk yield, fat yield, protein yield	
Criteria for inclusion of records	testdays 5 to 330 DIM in lactation numbers 1-3	
Criteria for extension of records		
Time period for data inclusion	since 1987	
Sire categories		
Max. number of lactations per cow included in the evaluation	3	
Environmental effects*, pre-adjustments 	Standardization of heterogeneous variance within herdtestday	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation*	Multiple lactation TDM (same as used at VIT, Germany)	
Environmental effects* in the genetic evaluation model	Herdtestday effect; PE, fixed lactation curve within lactation number, calving year, calving season, calving age, zone, alpine pasture, calving interval, breedcode	
Use of genetic groups		
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation		
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model		
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	see PAGE 3 for heritability/genetic variance estimates; for multiple-trait genetic evaluations, provide genetic correlation estimates between traits separately	
System validation		
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula on PAGE 3	EBV in kg, on a 305-day period	
Genetic (reference) base
Next base change	2000SI defined as average EBV of all Swiss purebred Simmental cows born in 1995.
Next change in 2006	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	for official test bulls:
10 daughters with >= 3 testdays in at least 10 herds	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	4	
Use in production / total merit index	yes	
Anticipated changes in the near future		
Key reference on methodology applied		
Key organization: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Swiss Simmental and Red&White Cattle Breeding Association
Ruettistrasse
CH-3052 Zollikofen
tel : +41.31.910.61.11
fax : +41.31.910.61.99
e-mail : info@swisscattle.com
web : www.redonline.ch	
*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)

COUNTRY:	SWITZERLAND (CHE)	
BREED (repeat as necessary):	SIM and R&W	

Trait	h2*	genetic
variance*	official proof
standardisation formula**	
Milk yield: 
L 1-3
L 1
L 2
L 3	
0.356
0.310
0.280
0.313	
364'017
267'075
411'171
553'034		
Fat yield: 
L 1-3
L 1
L 2
L 3	
0.335
0.263
0.229
0.230	
580.3
414.9
707.9
857.7		
Protein yield: 
L 1-3
L 1
L 2
L 3	
0.342
0.252
0.252
0.274	
287.7
200.9
335.8
441.9		
*	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.
**	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.