Status as of: 2010-04-19

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!	Longevity	
Breed(s)	Jersey 	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	1 Year longevity: Number of days survived to end of 1st  lactation –at maximum 365 days included (information trait)
2 year longevity: Number of days survived up to end of 2nd  lactation – each lactation contribute at maximum 365 days (information trait)
3 year longevity: Number of days survived up to end of 3rd lactation – each lactation contribute at maximum 365 days (trait published and included in total merit index)
4 year longevity: Number of days survived up to end of 4th lactation – each lactation contribute at maximum 365 days (information trait)
5 year longevity: Number of days survived up to end of 5th lactation – each lactation contribute at maximum 365 days (information trait)	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Data from the Milk recording system: Calving dates, date of disposal and reason for disposal	
Time period for data inclusion	DNK and SWE: 1985 onwards; (FIN: No Jersey data)	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	1st to 5th lactation	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Data for a trait are included if:
1 year longevity: At least   365 day from 1st calving 
2 year longevity: At least   730 days from 1st  calving 
3 year longevity; At least 1095 days from 1st  calving
4 year longevity; At least 1460 days from 1st  calving
5 year longevity; At least 1825 days from 1st  calving

Data from herds stopping in registration are deleted 2 year prior to last calving date observed (this restriction is not applied the last 2 years)

Data after a herd change is not used	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	-	
Sire categories	All	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	None	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	AM-MT including 5 traits (1y-, 2y-, 3y-, 4y- and 5y-longevity)	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	H x Y of 1st calving (R) 
H x 5Y-period of 1st calving (F)
Y x M of 1st calving (F)
Age at 1st calving (F) 
Heterosis: 1 linear regression effect:  Danish Jersey x US Jersey	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	No	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Phantom parent groups by selection path, year of birth and breed;
full relationship matrix	
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, LO, CA, as applicable, if you participate in the international genetic evaluations of Interbull	
System validation	Trend validation	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	RBV	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Cow base: DNK and SWE cows born 5 to 7 years before publication.

Rolling, changes at every evaluation 	
Calculation of reliability	Approach by Misztal & Wiggans(1988)	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	Reliability of at least 50%	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	4	
Use in total merit index4	Yes	
Anticipated changes in the near future	No	
Key reference on methodology applied		
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Nordic Cattle Genetic Evaluation
Gert Pedersen Aamand
Agri Food Park 15,  DK-8200, Aarhus N, Denmark
phone: +45-87405288
e-mail: gap@landscentret.dk
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:	Longevity		
Breed (repeat as necessary):	Jersey		

Trait	Definition	ITBa	h2b	genetic
varianceb	official proof
standardisation formulac	
1Y-longevity           			0.036	268	10 * (EBV - 0) / 13.4 + 100	
2Y-longevity			0.054	2453	10 * (EBV - 0) / 40.9 + 100	
3Y-longevity		X	0.064	6955	10 * (EBV - 0) / 71.2 + 100	
4Y-longevity			0.067	11901	10 * (EBV - 0) / 95.9 + 100	
5Y-longevity			0.068	15999	10 * (EBV - 0) /113.9 + 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.

HxY-variance	1Y-longevity	2Y-longevity	3Y-longevity	4Y-longevity	5Y-longevity	
1Y-longevity	223					
2Y-longevity	483	1522				
3Y-longevity	612	2143	3362			
4Y-longevity	665	2433	3935	4856		
5Y-longevity	687	2577	4247	5292	5979	

Heritability on diagonal, genetic correlations above, Environmental correlations below
	1Y-longevity	2Y-longevity	3Y-longevity	4Y-longevity	5Y-longevity	
1Y-longevity	0.036	0.957	0.927	0.906	0.893	
2Y-longevity	0.777	0.054	0.983	0.972	0.961	
3Y-longevity	0.637	0.933	0.064	0.987	0.981	
4Y-longevity	0.558	0.856	0.969	0.067	0.989	
5Y-longevity	0.511	0.800	0.927	0.985	0.068	

Form GE	Appendix LO

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

Country (or countries):	DFS (Denmark-Finland-Sweden)	
Main trait group:	Longevity	
Breed(s):	Jersey	

Trait	h2	genetic
variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Direct longevity:
(3 year longevity)	0.064	6955	Longevity = 10 * (EBV - 0) / 71.2 + 100	
Combined longevity:
				
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.