Status as of: 2017-09-01

Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	ITALY	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Conformation	
Breed(s)	BROWN SWISS	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	24 descriptive traits (4 body, 3 rump, 5 feet & legs, 12 udder); 5 final scores
	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Evaluators of linear traits 	
Time period for data inclusion	Data since 1985	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included		
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	All records of cows with records in 1st lactation
	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)		
Sire categories		
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	No	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	BLUP-AM-ST	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Herd*3-year-period (F); classifier*year (F);  age at parity (F); stage of lactation (F); time (hour) of classification (F)
PE effect of cow (R)	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	NO	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	YES	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation		
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	2,3	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	Standardized to a mean of zero (100) and standard deviation of one (12):
RBV = ((EBV – mean EBV) / standard deviation of EBV) *12 + 100	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Rolling base, cows born 15-12 years before the genetic evaluation date	
Calculation of reliability	Approximate reliability (Bevin Harris & David Johnson: "Approximate Reliability of Genetic Evaluations Under an Animal Model"pubblicato sul Dairy Science 81:2723-2728 1998)	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	Bulls: at least 10 daughters with records
Cows: own record
	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	3 evaluations: April, August, December	
Use in total merit index4	ITE:
35*Protein kg + 8 *% protein + 10* Fat kg + 2 *% fat  – 5 *SCS + +10*ocs  + 10*milking speed + 10*dlo + 5 * ofl – 5 int	
Anticipated changes in the near future		
Key reference on methodology applied		
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Anarb 
Loc ferlina 204 Bussolengo Verona Italy
045/6760135
045/7156655
ricerca@anarb.it
attilio.rossoni@anarb.it
chiara.nicoletti@anarb.it
www.anarb.it
	
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):	Italy	
Main trait group:	Production	
Breed (repeat as necessary):	Brown Swiss	

Trait	Definition	ITBa	h2b	genetic
varianceb	official proof
standardisation formulac	

						

						

						

						
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.

Form GE	Appendix BCO

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

Country (or countries):		
Main trait group:	Conformation	
Breed:	Brown Swiss	
Trait	Definition	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Stature	1. very small (cm 135)
3. small 
5. intermediate (cm 145)
7. tall 
9. very tall (cm 155)	0.403	19.930		
Chest width	1. very weak and narrow
3. weak and narrow
5. quite strong and wide
7. very strong
9. extremely strong and wide	0.181	7.663		
Body Depth	1. very shallow
3. shallow
5. average depth
7. deep
9. very deep	0.228	9.189		
Top line	1. very weak and curved
3. weak
5. average flatness and strength
7. strong
9. very strong and raised	0.103	3.222		
Rump length	1. very short (cm 43)
3. short
5. average (cm 53)
7. long
9. very long (cm 63)	0.190	6.695		
Rump Angle
	1. hooks much higher than pins (5 cm)
3. hooks and pins on the same level
5. slight slope towards hooks (5 cm)
7. average slope towards hooks
9. very strong slope towards hooks (15 cm)	0.225	10.77		
Rump width
	1. very narrow 
3. narrow
5. average narrowness
7. wide
9. very wide	0.158	6.627			
Thurl position	1. quite behind (= 12 cm behind the mid-rump length)
3. behind
5. population average (= 6 cm behind the mid-rump length))
7. ahead with respect to the population average
9. quite ahead with respect to the population average	0.030	1.135		
Rear Leg Set	1. very straigth and posty
3. almost straigth at hocks
5. average angle
7. average sickleness
9. very sickled	0.170	6.973		
Hock Quality	1. very short (1 cm)
3. short
5. average heigth (3 cm)
7. quite high
9. very high (6 cm)	0.104	6.181		
Pasterns	1. coarse and narrow (forward and backward)
3. coarse
5. average flatness
7. quite flat
9. very flat and wide (forward and backward)	0.084	3.773		
Deep Heel	1. weak
3. quite weak
5. intermediate
7. strong
9. extremely strong	0.048	2.353		
Fore Udder Length	1. very short (10 cm)
3. short
5. enough long (20 cm)
7. average long
9. extremely long (30 cm)	0.115	6.087		
Fore Udder Attachment	1. extremely loose,  weak or broken
3. very loose
5. strong attachment
7. very strongly attached
9. extremely tight and strongly attached	0.137	8.289		
Rear Udder Attachment Width	1. very narrow (11 cm)
3. narrow 
5. average narrowness (16 cm)
7. wide 
9. very wide (21 cm)	0.133	8.470		
Rear Udder Attachment Height	1. very short
3. short
5. average height
7. high
9. very high	0.131	6.401		
Udder Support	1. no ligament or broken
3. no middle cleft
5. sharp cleft (2.5 cm)
7. strong cleft
9. very deep cleft (5 cm)	0.127	8.657		
Udder Depth	1. flat foor, much lower than hocks (0 cm)
3. floor as high as hocks
5. slightly higher than hocks (10 cm)
7. much higher than hocks
9. very high, little volume (20 cm)	0.247	15.560		
Udder balance	1. extremely low rear, tilted up
3. moderately low rear
5. level udder floor
7. moderately low front
9. extremely low front, tilted down	0.113	3.217		
Front Teat length	1. very short (3 cm)
3. short 
5. average length (5,5 cm)
7. long
9. very long (8 cm)	0.352	21.700		
Teat Thickness	1. very thin (1,5 cm)
3. thin
5. average (2,5 cm)
7. large 
9. very large (cm 3,5)	0.168	8.590		
Teat direction 
(rear view)	1. very wide, divergent
3. wide, divergent
5. central and straigth
7. narrow, convergent
9. very narrow, convergent	0.141	5.430		
Fore Teat Placement	1. extremely wide - on the outside of quarters
3. placement toward outside of quarters
5. centrally placed - straight
7. placement toward inside of quarters
9. extremely close - on the inside of quarters	0.127	4.997		
Rear Teat Placement	1. extremely wide - on the outside of quarters
3. placement toward outside of quarters
5. centrally placed - straight
7. placement toward inside of quarters
9. extremely close - on the inside of quarters	0.168	8.443		
Overall Conformation Score		0.283	1.379		
Overall Frame
		0.331	3.039		
Overall Rump
		0.252	1.999		
Overall Feet & Leg Score		0.169	1.220		
Overall Udder Score		0.230	2.360		
Locomotion					
Body Condition Score					
a	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.
b	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.