Status as of: 2008-09-12
Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	United Kingdom	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Female fertility	
Breed(s)	HOL, SHO, AYR (RDC), JER, GUE, BSW; all  breeds and crossbreds  evaluated together  in a multi-breed evaluation	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	1st Lactation NR56 = non return at 56 days with 1 = failure to service and 2 = success.
Calving Interval (CI) = days between 1st and 2nd calvings.	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Milk recording data collected by ICAR approved recording organisations (NMR & HUK)	
Time period for data inclusion	1992 till  date	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	1st parity only	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Age at 1st calving between 18 and 40 months. Calving Interval from 300 to 600 days.	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	N/A	
Sire categories	All bulls included	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	 None	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	MT AM. BLUP analysis also includes daily milk yield test nearest to  100 days, days to first service, number of inseminations to produce a calf and condition score	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Age at first calving (Linear & Quadratic), month of calving(F), Heterosis and recombination among four main breed groups (Holstein, Friesians, Red breeds and Others) .herd-year-season (F) and animal (R)	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	No	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Yes-genetic groups based on sex, year of birth and country of origin.
Five generation pedigree is used.	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	NO	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	See  Appendix 
	
System validation	Software is same as is used for production evaluations. Data
distribution, means and standard deviations are checked and results compared to previous analyses. Interbull methods 2 and 3	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	Predicted Transmitting Abilities expressed relative to a genetic base of cows born in 2005	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Cows born in 2005

2010	
Calculation of reliability	See Misztal and Wiggans, 1988.	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	10 milking daughters and reliability of fertility index (FI) ≥ 30%	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	Three	
Use in total merit index4	Yes. FI = 1.56*NR56 – 0.31*CI where NR56 and CI are PTAs. FI is then included in the UK profit index £PLI	
Anticipated changes in the near future	None	
Key reference on methodology applied	Wall, E., Brotherstone, S., Woolliams, J.A. Banos, G. and Coffey, M.P.2003. J. Dairy Sci. 86:4093-4102.	
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	EGENMidlothian EH26 0PH.ES, Scottish Agricultural College, Bush Estate, Penicuik, +44(0) 1315353200.	
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):	 United Kingdom	
Main trait group:	Female fertility	
Breed (repeat as necessary):	 HOL, SHO, AYR (RDC), JER, GUE, BSW	

Trait*	Definition	ITBa	h2b	genetic
varianceb	official proof
standardisation formulac	
Calving Interval (CI)		X	0.033	80.0984		
Condition score(CS)			0.237	0.468728		
Milk yield at 100d(MK)			0.329	5.486956		
Days to first insemination (DF)			0.035	25.32125		
NR56	
	
X	
0.019	
0.004128	

		X	
0.019	
0.004128	

	0.019	0.004128		
No of inseminations(NS)			0.022	0.021244		
						
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.

The genetic correlations used in the evaluation for all 6 traits are as follows:
 CI       1.000   
 CS      -0.143    1.000   
 MK      0.270   -0.443    1.000    
 DF       0.671   -0.629    0.490    1.000    
 NR56    -0.449   -0.297   -0.254    0.235    1.000   
 NS       0.607    0.288    0.058   -0.124   -0.939    1.000

Form GE	Appendix FF

Parameters for national genetic evaluations for female fertility traits as provided to Interbull

Country (or countries):	GBR	
Main trait group:	Female fertility	
Breed(s):	Holstein, RDC,Jersey,Guernsey	

Trait name	h2	genetic
variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Maiden heifer’s ability to conceive:				
Lactating cow’s
ability to start cycling:	0.033	80.0984		
Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 1:	0.02	0.004128		
Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 2:	0.033	80.0984		
Lactating cow’s interval calving-conception:	0.033	80.0984		
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						
Trait 2: Lactating cow’s
ability to start cycling		80.0984	-0.258183	1.00	1.00	
Trait 3: Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 1		-7.643453	0.004128	-0.258183	-0.258183	
Trait 4: Lactating cow’s ability to conceive 2		1.00	-7.643453	80.0984	1.00	
Trait 5: : Lactating cow’s interval calving-conception		1.00	-7.643453	1.00	80.0984