Status as of: (2021-12-16)

Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	Republic of Ireland	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Udder health	
Breed(s)	Holstein-Friesian/Jersey/Red Breeds/Simmental 	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	Test day observations for somatic cell score SCS = loge (SCC) where SCC is somatic cells per ml and for loge (SCC) >= 5. 
Three SCS traits are evaluated in a multi-trait RRM: SCS parity1, SCS parity2, and SCS parity 3+ (=3,4,5).
	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Collected by milk recording agencies. 	
Time period for data inclusion	Calving dates from 1996 onwards
	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	All lactations up to 15
	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Cows with records must have known sire, minimum age at calving 604 days, minimum calving interval 301 days 
	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)		
Sire categories	All sires
	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	None	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	ST ML RR TD AM (Schaeffer et al., 1994)
	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Age Calving(F), 
Days Carried in Calf (F), 
Herd*testday (R), 
Herd*year of calving  (F intercept, linear & quadratic Legendre pol.), 
Calving year * lactation (F  intercept, linear & quadratic Legendre pol.)
Heterosis(F), Recombination(F), 
Non-genetic animal effect within lactation (R intercept, linear & quadratic Legendre pol.), 
Non-genetic animal effect across lactation (R intercept, linear & quadratic Legendre pol.),
Genetic animal effect across lactation (R intercept, linear & quadratic Legendre pol.)	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	no
	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Groups are formed based on year of birth, country of origin, breed and selection path (SD, DS, DD, DS, 2S, 2D). Small groups are merged.
	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation		
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	See Appendix GE
	
System validation	Interbull verification software method III & IV
	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	PTA
	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Cows born 2005, milk recorded parity 1 in 2007
	
Calculation of reliability	Approximation of prediction error variances (Jamrorik et al., 2000)
	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	Total merit index – Economic Breeding Index (EBI) 
	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	6	
Use in total merit index4	EBI = 33% production + 33% fertility/survival + 10% calving + 8% beef + 8% maintenance + 4% health +4% management

production = 26% milk(kgs) + 21% fat (kgs) + 53% prot (kgs)
	
Anticipated changes in the near future	-	
Key reference on methodology applied	Schaeffer, L. R., Dekkers, J. C. M. 1994. Random regressions in animal models for test-day production in dairy cattle. Proc. 5th World Congress of Genetics Applied to Livestock Production. Guelph, Ontario, Canada XVIII:443-446.
Jamrozik J, Schaeffer LR, Jansen GB. 2000. Approximate accuracies of prediction from random regression models. Livest Prod Sci. 2000;66:85–92..	
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF)
Bandon, Co. Cork, Ireland.
Tel +353 (023) 20222 Fax +353 (023) 20229 aeu@icbf.com
www.icbf.com	
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):	REPUBLIC OF IRELAND	
Main trait group:	Production	
Breed (repeat as necessary):	Holstein-Friesian/Jersey/Red Breeds/Simmental	

Variance and variance ratio for SCS	
	Variance				
Trait	Genetic	Within parity	Herd*year	Across parity	HTD	residual	Total	h2	c2	l2	
Parity 1	7720	39967	5993	-	25	779	54484	14%	73%	-	
Parity 2	5776	38348	8119	-	29	676	52949	11%	72%	-	
Parity 3	8679	11915	10083	42468	31	847	74024	12%	16%	57%	
Overall	5546	15284	7010	11042	28	763	39673	14%	39%	28%	

Genetic correlations between 30, 90, 150, 210, and 270 days in milk for SCS in parity 1, 2, and 3	
Parity		Parity 1			Parity 2		Parity 3		
	DIM	 30	 90	 150	 210	 270		 30	 90	 150	 210	 270		 30	 90	 150	 210	 270	
Parity 1	 30	1.00	0.96	0.89	0.84	0.83		0.52	0.53	0.51	0.49	0.47		0.46	0.46	0.44	0.43	0.42	
	 90		1.00	0.98	0.95	0.92		0.57	0.60	0.58	0.56	0.55		0.51	0.51	0.51	0.50	0.49	
	 150			1.00	0.99	0.96		0.58	0.62	0.62	0.61	0.60		0.53	0.54	0.54	0.54	0.53	
	 210				1.00	0.98		0.58	0.64	0.64	0.64	0.64		0.54	0.57	0.57	0.57	0.57	
	 270					1.00		0.57	0.65	0.66	0.67	0.68		0.55	0.58	0.59	0.60	0.60	
Parity 2	 30							1.00	0.93	0.82	0.75	0.71		0.61	0.61	0.59	0.57	0.53	
	 90								1.00	0.97	0.93	0.87		0.70	0.73	0.73	0.72	0.69	
	 150									1.00	0.99	0.93		0.72	0.77	0.78	0.78	0.76	
	 210										1.00	0.98		0.70	0.77	0.80	0.81	0.80	
	 270											1.00		0.67	0.75	0.79	0.80	0.83	
Parity 3	 30													1.00	0.97	0.92	0.88	0.83	
	 90														1.00	0.99	0.97	0.91	
	 150															1.00	1.00	0.95	
	 210																1.00	0.98	
	 270																	1.00