Status as of: 2017-09-01

Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	Portugal	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	Production	
Breed(s)	Holstein	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	Milk (kg)
Fat (kg)
Protein (kg)
Fat (%)
Protein (%)	
Method of measuring and collecting data	A4 and AT4 milk recording scheme according with ICAR rules	
Time period for data inclusion	With TD records since June 1994	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	First 3 lactations, no weighting factors	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	4 < DIM < 310
18 < Age at 1st Calving (months) < 45
28 < Age at 2nd Calving (months) < 58
38 < Age at 3rd Calving (months) < 78
Mean-3 SD < TD record within DIM and Lact < Mean+3 SD
≥ 2 TD records per Lact	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	None	
Sire categories	All Sires	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	None	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	ST-ML-RP-TD-Autoregressive (AR1)-AM	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	Herd-TD (R) AR(1) (12 levels x Years x Herds)
Age(Herd) (F) discontinuous (16 levels x Herds)
DIM(Lact and Herd) (F) discontinuous (30 levels x 3 Lact x Herds)	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	Yes. Residual Variances within Lact (3 components)
Vasconcelos. J., A. Martins, A. Ferreira and J. Carvalheira. 2007. Assessment of Heterogeneity of Residual Variances in an Autoregressive Test-Day Multiple Lactations Model. EAAP – 58th Annual Meeting, Dublin, Ireland, August 26-29, 2007, Abstract no. 798.	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	Relationship Matrix with Inbreeding coefficients. With genetic groups. 	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	No	
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	Data quality control, genetic trend validation	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	EBV	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Cows born in 2010. Updated in every evaluation

2020 (New base = 2015)	
Calculation of reliability	REL = 1-Gvar/PEV; PEV = diag(inv(Coef matrix))	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	≥ 10 daughters in ≥ 5 Herds	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	2 (January and September)	
Use in total merit index4	Yes	
Anticipated changes in the near future	No	
Key reference on methodology applied	Carvalheira, J., E. J. Pollak, R. L. Quaas and R. W. Blake. 2002. An autoregressive repeatability animal model for test-day records in multiple lactations. J. Dairy Sci., 85:2040-2045.	
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	ANABLE	
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):	Portugal	
Main trait group:	Production	
Breed (repeat as necessary):	Holstein	

Trait	Definition	ITBa	h2b	genetic
varianceb	official proof
standardisation formulac	
						
Milk (kg)		X	0.24	10.137		
Fat (kg)		X	0.19	0.016		
Protein (kg)		X	0.22	0.009		
Fat (%)			0.27	0.167		
Protein (%)			0.32	0.026		

						

						

						

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 PR

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

Country (or countries):	Portugal	
Main trait group:	Production	
Breed(s):	Holstein	

Trait	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Milk yield:
	0.24	10.137		
Fat yield:
	0.19	0.016		
Protein yield:
	0.22	0.009		
a	If lactations, or part of lactations, are treated as separate traits, provide heritability estimates and genetic variances separately for each lactation, as well as for all lactations 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.

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):		

Trait	Definition	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Stature					
Chest Width					
Body Depth					
Angularity					
Rump Angle					
Rump Width					
Rear Leg Set					
Rear Leg Rear View					
Foot Angle					
Fore Udder					
Rear Udder Height					
Udder Support					
Udder Depth					
Front Teat Placement					
Teat Length					
Rear Teat Placement					
Overall Conformation Score					
Overall Udder Score					
Overall Feet & Leg Score					
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.

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					
Chest width					
Body depth					
Angularity					
Rump angle					
Rump Width					
Rear Leg Side View					
Pasterns/Foot Angle					
Deep Heel (Hoof Height)					
Fore Udder Attachment					
Rear Udder Attachment Height					
Rear Udder Attachment Width					
Udder Support					
Udder Depth					
Front Teat Placement					
Teat Length					
Rear Teat Placement					
Overall Conformation Score					
Overall Udder Score					
Overall Feet & Leg Score					
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.

Form GE	Appendix SM

Parameters for national genetic evaluations for udder health traits as provided to Interbull

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

Trait	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Milk Somatic Cell:
				
Clinical Mastitis:
				
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.

Form GE	Appendix LO

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

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

Trait	h2	genetic
variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Direct longevity:
				
Combined longevity:
				
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.

Form GE	Appendix CA

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

Country (or countries):		
Main trait group:	Calving Traits	
Breed(s):		

Trait	h2	genetic
variance	official proof
standardisation formulaa	
Direct calving ease:
				
Maternal calving ease:
				
Direct stillbirth:
				
Maternal stillbirth:
				
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.