Status as of: 2019-09-04

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	Norway	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Workability	
Breed(s)	Norwegian Red (NRF)	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	Temperament.  Subjectively scored by the farmer at a 3 level scale
(1=easy, 2=average, 3=uneasy), with frequencies 22%, 69%, 9% respectively, in 2005 onwards.
Milking speed. Subjectively scored by the farmer at a 3 level scale
(1=fast, 2=average, 3=slow), with frequencies 24%, 64%, 12% respectively, in 2005 onwards.
Leakage is dripping or flowing of milk between the milkings. Subjectively scored by the farmer at a 3 level scale
(1=none, 2=a little, 3=obvious), with frequencies 80%, 16%, 4% respectively, in 2005 onwards.	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Subjective scoring on a 3 level scale. Carried out by the farmer, comparing the cow to other primiparous cows in the herd. The milk recording system issues a reminder for each cow at the first test day report after 45 DIM. Scoring is then to take place and be reported at the next test day. Before 1999 temperament was scored by technicians.	
Time period for data inclusion	Calving since September 1989. (Temperament since 1987)	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	First parity only.	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Age at 1st calving 18 – 36 months. Traits measured between 20 and 300 DIM.
	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)		
Sire categories	One category, AI bulls of NRF.	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	None	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	Temperament: ST-AM
Milking speed/Leakage: ST-AM
	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	(F) Stage of lactation at measurement. 14 levels.
(F) Age in months at calving. 19 levels.
(F) Month by year of calving. 350 levels.
(R) Herd by year of calving, 354.000 levels.
	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	Temperament: Preadjustments for heterogeneous variance with respect to year of recording.
	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Temperament: Complete additive relationship with inbreeding. No genetic groups.
Milking speed/Leakage: Complete additive relationship with inbreeding. No genetic groups.
	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	None	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	Temperament:
Herd*yr  genetic   residual   phenotypic      ratio herd*yr      heritability
0.194        0.066     0.753       1.013                0.191                   0.081
Milking speed and Leakage:
Herd*yr   genetic   residual    phenotypic     ratio herd*yr    heritability
.0285308   .0813924   .316904  .4268272        .0668                .2044
.0191454   .0241684   .181006  .2243198        .0853                .1178	
System validation	Correlation to previous estimates of EBV. Check on genetic trend.	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	RBV for Temperament:  Mean=100, SD=12
RBV for Milking speed: Mean=100, SD=12
RBV for Leakage:           Mean=100, SD=12	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Rolling average of dairy cows born 3 to 8 years previous to current evaluation. Updated at every evaluation.
Standard deviation based on AI-bulls born 5 to 12 years prior to July 1st 2019. Kept constant for the time being.	
Calculation of reliability	Interbull procedure of Mix99.	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	Daughters in at least 10 different herds.
At least 50 (msp) or 70 (tem) daughters with phenotype (50 for imported AI-bulls).	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	3	
Use in total merit index4	TMI. Temperament= 0.5 % , milking speed= 2.0 %, leakage= 0.5 %.	
Anticipated changes in the near future		
Key reference on methodology applied	Svendsen, M. and I.M. A.-Ranberg (2000). Genetic evaluation for functional traits in Norway. Interbull Bulletin no. 25: 135-138.

MiX99 Development Team (2017). MiX99: A software package for solving large mixed model equations. Release XI/2017. Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). Jokioinen, Finland.  http://www.luke.fi/mix99.

Strandén, I., M. Lidauer, E.A. Mäntysaari and J. Pösö (2000). Calculation of Interbull weighting factors for the Finnish test day model. Interbull Bulletin no. 26: 78-79.	
Key organization: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	GENO SA, Storhamargata 44, N-2317 Hamar, Norway.
Phone: +47 95020600
Fax:     +47 62520601
E-mail: geno@geno.no
Web site: www.geno.no	
1) Either: Production (e.g. milk, fat, protein), Conformation, Health (e.g. mastitis resistance, milk somatic cell, resistance to diseases other than mastitis), Longevity (e.g. direct longevity, combined 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).

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

Country (or countries):	NORWAY	
Main trait group:	Workability	
Breed(s):	RDC	

Trait	h2	genetic
variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Milking Speed
	.2044	.08139	c=-12   d=100	
Temperament
	.081	.066	c=-12    d=100	
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.