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)	HOL	
Trait definition(s) and unit(s) of measurement2
Attach an appendix if needed	19 individual traits and 4 composite traits (frame, dairy character, udder, and legs)	
Method of measuring and collecting data	Linear scoring 
	
Time period for data inclusion	Data since January 2003	
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 >=40	
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	Composite traits: legs (6.0%), frame (5.0%), udder (10%), and dairy character (4.0%)	
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):	HOL	

Trait	Definition	h2a	genetic
variancea	official proof
standardisation formulab	
Stature	(score)	0.16	1.1468		
Rump Angle	(score)	0.10	0.1721		
Rump Width	(score)	0.09	0.1470		
Chest Width	(score)	0.03	0.0410		
Angularity	(score)	0.11	0.1759		
Body Depth	(score)	0.16	0.2581		
Pasterns	(score)	0.05	0.0817		
Rear Leg Rear View	(score)	0.16	0.2670		
Rear Leg Side View	(score)	0.08	0.1334		
Locomotion	(score)	0.16	0.2945		
Body Condition Score	(score)	0.16	0.2567		
Teat Length	(score)	0.10	0.1637		
Front Teat Placement	(score)	0.04	0.0759		
Rear Teat Placement	(score)	0.17	0.2984		
Udder Depth	(score)	0.19	0.3033		
Udder Support	(score)	0.11	0.1870		
Fore Udder Attachment	(score)	0.18	0.2973		
Rear Udder Height	(score)	0.23	0.3759		
Rear Udder Width	(score)	0.24	0.3905		
Overall Frame Score	(score)	0.22	3.5730		
Overall Udder Score	(score)	0.28	4.9090		
Overall Feet & Leg Score	(score)	0.31	4.2868		
Overall Dairy Character	(score)	0.41	5.6545		
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.