Page 8 - Mokairau Herefords 2020 Bull Sale Catalogue

UNDERSTANDING HEREFORD SELECTION INDEXES
Selection Indexes rank animals for a single production goal – PROFIT. They take the hard work out of determining how much emphasis to give each of the available growth, maternal, carcase and fertility EBVs, when selecting parent animals. An Index is a composite EBV ( EBV for Profit) for traits best suited to a particular production system and/ or target market. There are four breed-specific Indexes for Hereford cattle:
HEREFORD PRIME/MATERNAL INDEX
Focuses on producing a 275kg carcase weight steer off grass by 18 months of age, from a self-replacing cow herd.
EXPORT/MATERNAL INDEX
Focuses on the production of a 300kg carcase weight steer off grass, by 20 months of age, from a self-replacing cow herd (a herd producing females over a 5 year period to continue the breeding programme).
DAIRY/MATERNAL INDEX
Aims to produce readily marketable crossbred steers at 475kg live weight by 16 months of age and also dairy cross heifers for use as dams in beef-breeding cow herds.
DAIRY TERMINAL INDEX
Estimates the genetic differences between animals in net profitability per cow joined for an example commercial dairy herd targeting the production of dairy beef progeny where all progeny are slaughtered. Steers are assumed marketed at 500 kg live weight (260 kg carcase weight and 6 mm fat depth) at 18 months of age.
2020 HEREFORD EBVS & INDEXES
SELECTION INDEXES ($)
BIRTH WT
200D
400D
600D
MCW
MILK
SS
+4.3
+33
+55
+78
+68
+16
+2.0
CWT
EMA
RIB
RUMP
RBY
IMF
+51
+3.4
+0.6
+0.7
+0.8
+0.5
HP
EX MAT
DAIRY M
DAIRY T
+$105
+$106
+$97
+$64
6 Mokairau Bull Sale 2020