Status as of: 2016-04-08

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)	Holstein	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	Linear scales 1-50: Stature, Chest Width, Body Depth,
Angularity, Rump Angle, Rump Width, Rear Leg Set Side View,
Rear Leg Set Rear View, Foot Angle, Fore Udder, Rear Udder
Height, Udder Support, Udder Depth, Teat Placement, Teat
Length, Locomotion (LOC).
Linear combination of traits: Overall Conformation score,
Overall Udder Score, Overall F&L score
Linear scale 1-5: Body Condition Score (BCS)	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Classifiers do evaluate for conformation all first parity cows at
farm level every six months	
Time period for data inclusion	From 1997 for conformation traits. From 2007 for BCS. From 2009 for LOC.	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	Only first parity cows (age in months 18-42). BCS: 20-38	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Only one score per cows i.e. the first one.	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	Minimum size of herd-year-date of classification class = 2 for conformation traits.	
Sire categories	All (A.I. and non A.I, national and foreign)	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	No	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	MT Animal Model with missing traits for conformation traits.
ST Animal Model for BCS	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Conformation: Age at calving by stage of lactation by year-class by bulls status (1=non AI, 2= YB; 3=2crop or foreign) (F) Herd-year-round of classification (F)
BCS: Age at calving (F)* stage of lactation (F), Herd-year-round of classification (F) , milk production class (F), year of parity (F)	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	No	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Yes	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	No	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	See Appendix GE for heritability/genetic variance estimates.
Use also appendices PR, CO, BCO, SM, LO, CA, as applicable, if you participate in the international genetic evaluations of Interbull	
System validation	Conformation: Method 2 and 3
BCS and LOC: Method 2	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	RBV	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	cows born between 2008-2010 

April 2017	
Calculation of reliability	Gengler N., and I. Misztal. 1996. Approximation of reliability for
multiple-trait animals models with missing data by canonical
transformation. J Dairy Sci. 79:317.	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	Minimum 10 daughters in 5 herds for conformation traits 
Minimum 10 daughters and 50% accuracy for BCS.	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	3	
Use in total merit index4	Relative weight (percentile): 0.04 Overall conformation Score, 0.06
Overall F&L Score, 0.13 Overall Udder Score (Total weight of type
traits 0.23)	
Anticipated changes in the near future	GE based on a Multiple-trait model	
Key reference on methodology applied	Gengler N., G.R. Wiggans, J.R. Wright, H.D. Norman, and C. W.
Wolfe. 1997. Application of canonical transformation with missing
values to multitrait evaluation of Jersey type. J.Dairy Sci. 80:2563.	
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	ANAFI
Via Bergamo, 292
26100 CREMONA
ITALY
Phone: +39-0372-4741
Fax: +39-0372-474203
e-mail: ricercasvil@anafi.it
web site: www.anafi.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 CO

Parameters for national genetic evaluations for conformation traits as provided to Interbull
(all breeds except Brown Swiss)

Country (or countries):		
Main trait group:	Conformation	
Breed(s):	HOLSTEIN	

Trait	Definition	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Stature	WHFF	0.40	11.832	(EBV-1.08)/2.48	
Chest Width	WHFF	0.25	5.782	(EBV-0.22)/1.50	
Body Depth	WHFF	0.30	6.806	(EBV-0.41)/1.67	
Angularity	WHFF	0.23	5.785	(EBV-0.86)/1.41	
Rump Angle	WHFF	0.23	9.026	(EBV-0.15)/1.66	
Rump Width	WHFF	0.22	6.223	(EBV-0.57)/1.53	
Rear Leg Set	WHFF	0.16	4.93	(EBV-0.25)/1.04	
Rear Leg Rear View	WHFF	0.06	2.079	(EBV-0.19)/0.73	
Foot Angle	Heel depth	0.10	3.045	(EBV -0.24)/0.89	
Fore Udder	WHFF	0.20	6.376	(EBV-0.66)/1.54	
Rear Udder Height	WHFF	0.21	6.146	(EBV-0.91)/1.44	
Udder Support	WHFF	0.16	4.872	(EBV-0.68)/1.25	
Udder Depth	WHFF	0.30	11.999	(EBV-0.45)/2.21	
Front Teat Placement	WHFF	0.19	5.828	(EBV-0.60)/1.20	
Teat Length	WHFF	0.19	6.238	(EBV-0.20)/1.20	
Rear Teat Placement	WHFF	0.18	3.021	(EBV-0.46)/1.60	
Overall Conformation Score	Calculated as: sta * 3.3% + cwi* 6.2% + bde * 6.0% + ang *9.2% + ran * 1.7% + rwi *3.2% + rls *-0.9% + fan * 4.3%+ fua * 8.9% + ruh * 5.2% +usu * 7.2% + ude *11.2% + ftp*10.2% + rlr * 3.3%	0.24	1.76 *		
Overall Udder Score	Calculated as : 0.19 x Fore
Udder + 0.17 x Rear Udder
Height + 0.21 x Udder Support + 0.26 x Udder Depth + 0.17 x Teat Placement	0.28	3.96 *		
Overall Feet & Leg Score	Calculated as: 0.50 x functionality score + 0.50 x
(0.48 x foot angle + 0.37 Rear Leg Rear View –0.15 x Rear leg set)	0.10	1.86 *		
Locomotion	WHFF	0.046	0.525	(EBV(-0.17)) /0.47	
Body Condition Score	Pelvic and lumbar region	0.187	0.030 	(EBV-(-0.02))/  0.09	
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.