Status as of: 2013-08-30

Form GE

DESCRIPTION OF NATIONAL GENETIC EVALUATION SYSTEMS

Country (or countries)	CROATIA	
Main trait group1
NOTE! Only one trait group per form!	CONFORMATION	
Breed(s)	SIM	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	19 individual traits and 4 composite traits (frame, muscularity, udder, and feet/legs)
	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Linear scoring 	
Time period for data inclusion	Data since January 1997	
Age groups (e.g. parities) included	1st lactation cows 	
Other criteria (data edits) for inclusion of records	Age at scoring between 22 and 45 months 
Number of evaluated cows per classifier >=50	
Criteria for extension of records (if applicable)	No	
Sire categories	AI	
Environmental effects3, pre-adjustments 	No	
Method (model) of genetic evaluation3	MT – BLUP – AM	
Environmental effects3 in the genetic evaluation model	F: age at scoring, age between scoring and calving, season of scoring, classifier, time after milking (for udder traits)
R: only additive genetic effect	
Adjustment for heterogeneous variance in evaluation model	No	
Use of genetic groups and relationships	No	
Blending of foreign/Interbull information in evaluation	No	
Genetic parameters in the evaluation	see PAGE 3 for heritability/genetic variance estimates	
System validation	Means and SDs for all variables calculated; means and SDs of BV for bulls	
Expression of genetic evaluations
If standardised (e.g. RBV), give standardisation formula in the appendix	see PAGE 3 for heritability/genetic variance estimates	
Definition of genetic reference base
Next base change	Mean of cows born in 2003.
2014	
Calculation of reliability	Calculated from additive genetic variance and prediction error variance (PEV, Mrode, 1996)	
Criteria for official publication of evaluations	Reliability >=50% (M) and >=15% (F)	
Number of evaluations / publications per year	4	
Use in total merit index4	-	
Anticipated changes in the near future	Change of genetic base	
Key reference on methodology applied		
Key organisation: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, web site	Croatian Agricultural Agency, Department for genetic evaluation, Ilica 101, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia, Phone: +385-1-3903-176, Fax: +385-1-3903-192, mspehar@hpa.hr 	
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):	CROATIA	
Main trait group:	Conformation	
Breed(s):	SIM	

Trait	Definition	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Stature	(cm)	0.42	7.21576		
Body Depth	(cm)	0.37	6.4937		
Back Length	(cm)	0.30	7.1702		
Rump Length	(cm)	0.35	2.2980		
Rump Width	(cm)	0.25	2.0573		
Rump Angle	(score)	0.12	0.2121		
Rear Leg SideView	(score)	0.07	0.1213		
Hock joint Thickness	(score)	0.14	0.2420		
Pasterns	(score)	0.08	0.1396		
Heel Depth	(score)	0.06	0.1014		
Fore Udder Length 	(score)	0.35	0.6265		
Fore Udder Hang.	(score)	0.25	0.4453		
Rear Udder Length	(score)	0.36	0.6365		
Udder Depth	(score)	0.21	0.3672		
Udder Support	(score)	0.10	0.1646		
Teat Length	(score)	0.11	0.1819		
Rear Teat Placement	(score)	0.12	0.2050		
Teats Thickness	(score)	0.15	0.2617		
Front Teat Placement	(score)	0.07	0.1155		
Overall Frame Score	(score)	0.40	0.6677		
Overall Udder Score	(score)	0.11	0.1905		
Overall Feet & Leg Score	(score)	0.05	0.0789		
Overall Muscularity Score	(score)	0.34	3.3823		
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.