Status as of: 2021-11-02

Form GE September 2016

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	Denmark, Finland, Sweden	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Fertility	
Breed(s)	Holstein	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	1.	Conception rate heifer
2.	Interval from calving to first insemination cows (days)
3.	Conception rate cows
4.	Interval from first to last insemination cows (days)
5.	Days open (days) formed by adding raw solutions for Trait 2 and Trait 4	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Insemination data registered by AI-technicians and farmers 
Calvings registered by farmers	
Time period for data inclusion	Denmark 1985 onwards, Finland 1992 onwards, Sweden 1982 onwards, NOR 1997 onwards.	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	Heifers and cows in parities 1-3
	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records		
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	Interval from first to last insemination and days open if no subsequent calving is recorded; conception rate if neither subsequent calving nor pregnancy control result is recorded	
Sire categories	AI-sires	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	Pre-adjustment for heterogeneous variance for each country - year of first calving – parity, pre-adjustment for AI with a sexed semen (trait 4)	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	MT-ML-RP-AM (1,3), MT-ML-AM (2,4)	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	herd x year of birth (only trait 1) F, herd x year of first calving (not trait 1) F, year x month of insemination x countryA (not trait 2) F, year x month of calving x countryA (only trait 2) F, first insemination age in heifers x countryA F, ith insemination x country (traits 1, 3) F, semen type x year x country A (traits 1,3) F,  heterosis FR, inbreeding coefficient R, insemination bull breed x time period R (traits 1, 3), permanent environmental effect (traits 1,3) R.  AIn Finland, country x breed.
	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	No adjustment.	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Genetic groups by animal’s breed, birth country and birth year	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	No	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	Use Appendix GE for heritability/genetic variance estimates; for multiple-trait genetic evaluations, provide genetic correlation estimates between traits separately.
Use also appendices PR, CO, BCO, SM, as applicable, if you participate in the international genetic evaluations of Interbull	
System validation		
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	Relative EBV's , mean 100, SD = 10. High values favorable.	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Rolling base. In 02112021 evaluation: HOL cows born 02.11.2016-02.11.2016. 
February 2021	
Calculation of reliability	Yes	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	35% reliability for the combined index 	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	Four times per year	
Use in total merit index4	Yes
	
Anticipated changes in the near future	-	
Key reference on methodology applied		
Key organization: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Nordic Cattle Genetic Evaluation
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
Udkaersvej 15, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark
gap@seges.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 (e.g. direct longevity, combined 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).

Parameters for national genetic evaluations for female fertility traits as provided to Interbull
Country (or countries):		
Main trait group:	Female fertility	
Breed(s):		
Trait name	h2	genetic
variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Trait 1: Maiden heifer’s ability to conceive	0.01	0.002	((Eval – 0)/0.0347)*10 + 100	
Trait 2: Lactating cow’s ability to start cycling	0.097	44.5	-1*((Eval – 0)/5.734)*10 + 100	
Trait 3: Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 1	0.063	0.007	((Eval  - 0)/0.0607)*10 + 100	
Trait 4: Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 2	0.064	105.6	-1*((Eval – 0)/8.148)*10 + 100	
Trait 5: : Lactating cow’s interval calving-conception	0.064	105.6	-1*((Eval - 0 )/12.15)*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.

Genetic and residual covariances for countries with national multiple trait evaluations. Genetic covariances on upper diagonals, residual covariances on lower diagonals.

Trait name	Trait 1: 	Trait 2: 	Trait 3:	Trait 4:	Trait 5:	
Trait 1: Maiden heifer’s ability to conceive		-	0.0024	-	-	
Trait 2: Lactating cow’s ability to start cycling	-
		-	26.35	-	
Trait 3: Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 1	0.000
	-
		-
	-	
Trait 4: Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 2	-	11.33	-		-	
Trait 5: : Lactating cow’s interval calving-conception	-	-	-	-	Trait2 + Trait4