Status as of: 2011-09-01

Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	DEA (Austria & Germany)	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Longevity	
Breed(s)	BSW	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	Functional length of productive life (time between first calving and culling or between first calving and censoring date) adjusted for milk yield	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Calculated from milk recording data	
Time period for data inclusion	Since 1979	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	all	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records		
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)		
Sire categories	all	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	no	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	Direct longevity: ST sire-mgs model, survival analysis (Weibull model)
Combined longevity: the EBV for direct longevity is combined with 6 predictive conformation traits using selection index theory	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Region*year*season, HYS, age at first calving, parity*stage of lactation, relative milk yield within herd, relative fat+protein content within herd, change of herd size, alpine grazing	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	No	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	No	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	No	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	h2 = 0.12, rho = 2, gamma = 4	
System validation		
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	RBV with mean 100 and SD 12	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	8 to 10 yr old bulls (rolling)

every evaluation	
Calculation of reliability	Only culled daughters used, daughters, granddaughters, paternal half-sibs and nieces are considerd	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	if EBV for milk yield is official, all other EBVs are official
if EBV for milk yield is not official, minimum reliability of 30%	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	3 (April, August, December)	
Use in total merit index4	Yes, economic weight: 16.0%	
Anticipated changes in the near future	piecewise proportional hazards model	
Key reference on methodology applied	Fuerst and Egger-Danner (2002): 7th WCGALP, Montpellier, France	
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	ZuchtData EDV-Dienstleistungen GmbH, Dresdner Str. 89/19, A-1200 Vienna, Austria, Phone: +43-1-3341721, Fax: +43-1-3341713, info@zuchtdata.at, www.zuchtdata.at	
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 LO

Parameters for national genetic evaluations for longevity traits as provided to Interbull

Country (or countries):	DEA (Austria & Germany)	
Main trait group:	Longevity	
Breed(s):	BSW	

Trait	h2	genetic
variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Direct longevity:
	0.12	σs = 0.03	RBV with mean 100 and SD 12	
Combined longevity:
			RBV for combined functional longevity with mean of 100 and SD 12, direct longevity combined with 6 conformation traits using index selection theory (see below)	
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 correlations between conformation traits and functional longevity:
Trait	rg	
Feet & legs score	0.32	
Udder score	0.35	
Rear legs – rear view	0.14	
Suspensory ligament	0.20	
Udder depth	0.44	
Teat length	0.18