Status as of: 2010-04-21

Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	(DFS), Denmark, Finland, Sweden	
Main trait group1 
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Udder Health	
Breed(s)	Holstein	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	1.	TD Somatic Cell Score ln(SCC),              mean=4.37   lact 1
2.	-   “    -                  ,               -  “  -             mean=4.75   lact 2
3.	 -  “   -                   ,              -   “  -             mean=4.94   lact 3
4.	Clinical mastitis as 0 or 1, -15 - 50 DIM,  mean=.092   lact. 1
5.	– “ -                                  ,  51 - 300 DIM,  - “ -=.091   lact. 1
6.	–  “ -                                 , -15 - 150 DIM, - “ - =.157   lact. 2
7.	– “  -                                 , -15 - 150  Dim, - “ - =.192   lact. 3
8.	Fore udder attachment                               , - “ - =5.8    lact. 1
9.	Udder depth                                               , - “ - =6.1    lact. 1	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Traits 1-3: Milk recording
Traits 4-7: Veterinary reporting and from milk recording scheme
Traits 8-9: Linear traits done by classifiers	
Time period for data inclusion	Denmark Calvings since 1990
Finland Calvings since 1988
Sweden Calvings since 1981	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	Lactations 1-3	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Somatic cellcount: first inclusion after 90 days 
Mastitis records are included 10 days ( 1 for Denmark) after the end of recording period 	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	Not applicable	
Sire categories	AI-sires and NS-sires	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	Heterogeneous variance due calving year, lactation and country
Corr. Yijkl = (y-m)std(yearm)/std(yearij) +m
 I, j and l refers to year, lactation and country, std(yearm) is the unweighted mean of lactation standard deviations, and m is overall mean	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	Multiple-trait-reduced-rank-random-regression-test-day-animal-model	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	TDSCS observation: Fixed: Herd*period, calving age*country,  Year*month*country of calving, stage of lactation(lin.+quad.+cub. Legenendre Polynomials+wilmink term) within production month x four-year production year periods and b(Total Heterosis).
TDSCS observation: Random: herd x test-day.

CM and udder type traits: Fixed: Herd*period, calving age*country,  Year*month*country of calving, and b(Total Heterosis).
CM and udder type traits: Random: herd*year of calving
	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	No adjustments	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Phantom parent groups by selection path, year of birth and breed; full Relationships matrix 	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	No blending	
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, LO, CA, as applicable, if you participate in the international genetic evaluations of Interbull	
System validation	The genetic evaluationl has been validated according to Interbull methods 1 and 3. Additional information on correlations and regressions between breeding values from full and reduced dataset has been used.	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	RBV, mean 100, SD=10, High values are favourable	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Base is sires born 9 to 7 years before evaluation date. 

The base changes every evaluation	
Calculation of reliability	Selection index theory based on number of daughters in each breed, genetic correlations and economic weights 	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	All sires having reliabilities>0.40	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	4 evaluations per year	
Use in total merit index4	Yes	
Anticipated changes in the near future	None	
Key reference on methodology applied		
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Nordic Cattle Genetic Evaluation
Danish Agricultural Advisory Service
Udkaersvej 15, DK8200 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).

Form GE	Appendix GE

Parameters used in genetic evaluation
Country (or countries):	(DFS), Denmark, Finland, Sweden	
Main trait group:	Health	
Breed (repeat as necessary):	Holstein	

Trait	h2b	genetic
varianceb	official proof
standardisation formulac	
1-3 HOL TDSCS 	0.23
(combined overall 0.37)	12876.4	TDSCS1=-1*((eval-0)/85.2150468)*10.0+100
TDSCS2=-1*((eval-0)/101.9457717)*10.0+100
TDSCS3=-1*((eval-0)/105.0692787)*10.0+100
CombinedTDSCS =TDSCS1*0.5 + TDSCS2*0.2+ TDSCS3*0.3
CombinedTDSCS = ((eval-0)/92.525)*10 + 100	
4-7 HOL  Mastitis	0.066
(combined overall 0.15)	

0.0064

	CM11=-1*((eval-0)/0.0478906)*10.0+100
CM12=-1*((eval-0)/0.0385743)*10.0+100
CM2=-1*((eval-0)/0.0662855)*10.0+100
CM3=-1*((eval-0)/ 0.0750290)*10.0+100
Combined CM =CM11*0.25 + CM12*0.25+CM2*0.3+CM3*0.2
Combined CM = ((eval-0)/0.0536)*10 + 1000

I=-1*((bv-0)/ 0.0418876)*10.0+100;

	

				

				

				

				

a	Indicate, with X, traits that are submitted to Interbull for international genetic evaluations.
b	If repeated records are treated as separate traits, provide heritability estimates and genetic variances separately for each trait, as well as for all traits pooled, i.e. for the trait submitted to Interbull.
c	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.