Status as of: 2021-09-01

Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	Latvia	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Conformation	
Breed(s)	HOL (HO; RW) 
RDC (AY; BSW; NR; SR; MO; SM)
European Red Dairy Breed (Danish Red; Angeln; Latvian Brown; Lithuanian Red) Latvian Blue
Lithuanian Grey	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	17 linear type traits 	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Conformation traits are scored for all milk recording cows during the first and third lactation (during the first four months of lactation, but not before the 20th day after calving). Classifier scores 17 linear traits on a 1-9 scale: Dairy character, Body Depth, Chest Width, Rump Width, Rump Angle, Rear Leg Side View, Rear Leg Rear View, Foot Angle, Fore Udder, Udder Depth, Rear Udder Height, Rear Udder width, Central Ligament, Udder Support, Teat Length, Rear Teat Placement, Front Teat Placement. Stature is measured in centimeters. Classifier also scores three main composite traits: body, Feet/Legs and Mammary with maximum 90 points, 95 points and 100 points for each composite trait, respectively in 1st, 2nd and 3rd lactation. 
	
Time period for data inclusion	Type classifications since 1996	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	Linear classification scores from first three lactations are included in genetic evaluation.	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	N/A	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	N/A	
Sire categories	All categories of bulls (i.e. AI, natural service, imported bulls)	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	None	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	ST  – RP - BLUP – AM
A single-trait repeatability animal model is used for evaluating: 
-Body traits: stature, angularity, body depth, chest width, rump angle, rump width, body score, and dairy type   
-Feet & Leg traits: F&L score, rear leg rear view, rear leg side view, foot angle 
-Udder traits: udder score, rear udder height, udder support, front teat placement, rear teat placement, fore udder attachment, udder depth, rear udder width, central ligament and teat length.
	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Fixed: Classifier*year and herd*year, calving age classes, lactation*lactation-stage*breed-groups
Random: permanent environmental effects of cows 	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	No 	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Ancestors are traced back in pedigree as far as possible, genetic groups are assigned to unknown parents by breed, selection paths, and group of birth year of the animal.	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	No	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	see Appendix	
System validation	-Extensive checks on input data and results
-Interbull trend validation method III	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	EBVs of individual traits on original scale are published 
Three composite indices are computed as a linear function of the linear traits for body, legs and udder groups	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Cows born in 2015 are defined as the base population for published EBV and indices 
The next base change is expected to be done in April 2025 	
Calculation of reliability	Approximation using multiple trait daughter equivalent (EDC) method (Liu et al. 2004)	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	 Bulls with daughters in at least 10 herds 
 Cows with minimum reliability of 35% 	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	3 times per year in April, August, December 	
Use in total merit index4	To be done in near future 	
Anticipated changes in the near future	None	
Key reference on methodology applied	Liu, Z., F. Reinhardt, A. Bünger, and R. Reents 2004. Derivation and calculation of approximate reliabilities and daughter yield deviations of a random regression test-day model for genetic evaluation of dairy cattle. J. Dairy Sci. 87:1896–1907.	
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Agricultural Data Centre, Erna Galvanovska, Republikas square 2, Riga, LV-1010, phone +3717027241; e-mail ldc@ldc.gov.lv; www.ldc.gov.lv	
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
Form GE	Appendix CO

Parameters for national genetic evaluations for conformation traits as provided to Interbull
(Holstein and RDC breeds)

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

Trait	Definition	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Stature	WHFF definition	0.37	144		
Chest Width	WHFF definition	0.10	144		
Body Depth	WHFF definition	0.10	144		
Angularity	WHFF definition	0.15	144		
Rump Angle	WHFF definition	0.19	144		
Rump Width	WHFF definition	0.20	144		
Rear Leg Side view	WHFF definition	0.08	144		
Rear Leg Rear View	WHFF definition	0.06	144		
Foot Angle	Height of rear hoofs	0.07	144		
Central ligament	WHFF definition	0.10	144		
Rear Udder Height	WHFF definition	0.21	144		
Udder Support	WHFF definition	0.12	144		
Udder Depth	WHFF definition	0.18	144		
Front Teat Placement	WHFF definition	0.10	144		
Teat Length	WHFF definition	0.19	144		
Rear Teat Placement	WHFF definition	0.17	144		
Overall Conformation Score	A linear function of four composites 				
Overall Udder Score		0.23	144		
Overall Feet & Leg Score		0.11	144		
Locomotion	WHFF definition	0.08	144		
Body Condition Score	WHFF definition	0.23	144		
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.

Trait		PEST parameters	h2		
		VG permanent	VG animal	VE			
		
Rump height  	sta	0.12341	0.46701	1.26209	0.37	8.36	
Dairy character  	ang	0.002286	0.25642	1.74166	0.15	6.02	
Body depth 	bde	0.056904	0.13478	1.36294	0.10	7.08	
Chest width 	cwi	0.1102	0.14984	1.47001	0.10	6.08	
Rump width 	rwi	0.15269	0.29571	1.49691	0.20	6.00	
Rump angle 	ran	0.23011	0.30118	1.62733	0.19	4.67	
		
Rear leg side view 	Rls	0.11606	0.12379	1.53918	0.08	5.22	
Rear leg rear view  	Rlr	0.11161	0.090212	1.55575	0.06	5.93	
Foot angle 	fan	0.096116	0.09961	1.45026	0.07	4.62	
		
Fore udder 		0.11371	0.23384	1.57535	0.15	5.72	
Udder depth 	Ude	0.031243	0.17834	0.97176	0.18	5.16	
Rear udder height 	Ruh	0.10131	0.33646	1.57329	0.21	6.38	
Rear udder width 	Ruw	0.005461	0.15766	1.48925	0.11	6.23	
Central ligament	Usu	0.1485	0.14737	1.61952	0.09	5.79	
Udder support 	Fua	0.1225	0.17754	1.49325	0.11	5.62	
Teat length 	Ftl	0.14179	0.3032	1.58821	0.19	4.63	
 Rar teat placement	Rtp	0.23508	0.29075	1.71844	0.17	6.16	
Front teat placement 	ftp	0.12935	0.17519	1.70734	0.10	5.11