Status as of: 2016–09–06

Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	Denmark, Finland, Sweden	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Calving Traits	
Breed(s)	Holstein, Red Dairy Cattle	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	Survival, direct effect, (heifers, cows) (categories 0 – 1)
Survival, maternal effect, (heifers, cows) (categories 0 – 1) 
Calving Ease, direct effect, (heifers, cows) (categories 1 – 4)
Calving Ease, maternal effect, (heifers, cow) (categories 1 – 4) 
Calf size, direct effect, (heifers , cows) (categories 1-4) (only Denmark)
Calf size, maternal effect, (heifer, cows) (categories – 4) (only Denmark)	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Calving registered by farmers	
Time period for data inclusion	Denmark 1985 onwards; Finland Survival 1992 onwards, calving Ease 2004 onwards; Sweden 1985 onwards	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	1st  -5th calving . EBV's for first calving sent to Interbull	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Multiple births and ET are NOT included
Calves with missing sire or missing maternal grandsire are deleted	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	Not applicable	
Sire categories	AI-sires	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	Phenotypic variance are standardized such that variance is common across countries and 5-year periods. 
In Swedish data calving ease was coded 1-2 before 2012 – and 1-4 from 2012 and onward	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	MT-animal model	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Age at first calving*country(F), calving year*sex of calf*country (F), year*month of calving*country (F), herd*5year period (F), type of Swedish calving ease coding(F), effect of heterozygoty (regression, RDC only), year within 5year-herd-group (R)	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	No	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Phantom parent groups according to origin and birth year	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	No	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	See page 3	
System validation		
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	Relative EBVs, mean 100, SD = 10, high values favorable	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Cows with at least one calving born 3-5 years before date of publication and with a reliability of at least 0.30 for both calving and birth index
At every evaluation	
Calculation of reliability	Yes	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	(?)35 % reliability for maternal, and (?)50 % reliability for direct traits, minimum (?)35 daughters/calvings	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	4 times per year	
Use in total merit index4	Yes	
Anticipated changes in the near future		
Key reference on methodology applied		
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Nordic Cattle Genetic Valuation
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
Udkaersvej 15, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark
gap@landscentret.dk
http://www.nordicebv.info	
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).

Table 1. Heritabilities and genetic correlations for trait used in the calving index, heritabilities on diagonal, genetic correlations over diagonal. 
		Calving traits (maternal)	
		1. calving 	>1. calving	
	
Breed	Survival
(SU)	Calving ease(CE)	Size of Calf
(CS)	Survival
(SU)	Calving
ease(CE)	Size of Calf
(CS)	
(SU)
1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED	0.02
0.035	0.70
0.60	-0.14
-0.02	0.60
0.60	0.34
0.34	0.05
0.05	
(CE)
1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED		0.04
0.06	-0.52
-0.45	0.64
0.64	0.74
0.74	-0.26
-0.26	
(CS)
1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED			0.04
0.04	-0.43
-0.43	-0.43
-0.43	0.70
0.70	
(SU)
>1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED				0.01
0.01	0.70
0.60	-0.58
-0.39	
(CE)
> 1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED					0.02
0.03	-0.54
-0.39	
(CS) 
>1.  clv. 	RDC
HOL & RED						0.045
0.04	

Table 2. Heritabilities and genetic correlations for trait used in the birth index, heritabilities on diagonal, genetic correlations over diagonal. 
		Birth traits (direct)	
		1. calving 	>1. calving	
	
Breed	Survival
(SU)	Calving ease(CE)	Size of calf
(CS)	Survival
(SU)	Calving
ease(CE)	Sizeof Calf
(CS)	
(SU)
1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED	0.035
0.04	0.75
0.72	-0.36
-0.55	0.65
0.62	0.48
0.55	-0.38
-0.53	
(CE)
1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED		0.06
0.08	-0.77
-0.75	0.44
0.60	0.78
0.63	-0.75
-0.70	
(CS)
1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED			0.23
0.20	-0.40
-0.53	-0.90
-0.77	0.80
0.79	
(SU)
>1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED				0.01
0.01	0.65
0.65	-0.39
-0.53	
(CE)
>1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED					0.02
0.05	-0.76
-0.75	
(CS)
>1. clv.	RDC
HOL & RED						0.21
0.18	

The genetic correlations between maternal and direct traits were set to zero.
Form GE	Appendix CA

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

Country (or countries):	DFS	
Main trait group:	Calving Traits	
Breed(s):	Holstein	

Trait	h2	genetic
variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Direct calving ease:
	0.08	0.0584	I=((BV-0)/0.1403)*10 + 100	
Maternal calving ease:
	0.06	0.0438	I=((BV-0)/0.1245)*10 + 100	
Direct stillbirth:
	0.04	0.0112 	I=((BV-0)/0.0419)*10 + 100	
Maternal stillbirth:
	0.035	0.0098	I=((BV-0)/0.0503)*10 + 100	
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.

Form GE	Appendix CA

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

Country (or countries):	DFS	
Main trait group:	Calving Traits	
Breed(s):	Red Dairy Cattle	

Trait	h2	genetic
variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Direct calving ease:
	0.06	0.0414	I=((BV-0)/0.1413)*10 + 100	
Maternal calving ease:
	0.04	0.0276	I=((BV-0)/0.0939)*10 + 100	
Direct stillbirth:
	0.035	0.007 	I=((BV-0)/0.0322)*10 + 100	
Maternal stillbirth:
	0.02	0.004	I=((BV-0)/0.0235)*10 + 100	
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.