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by Samantha Cunningham, PhD Geneticist for the North American Limousin Foundation
s consumers, we have a multitude of tools available to help us work “smarter not harder”—smart phones, super stores, meal delivery services, etc. As beef producers, we also have tools that help us make selection decisions more efficiently, to work “smarter not harder”, so to speak. There’s raw data, adjusted data, ratios, EPDs (plus accuracies), economic value indexes and genomics all available to us for decision making and selection. Each of these have merit depending on the situation we find ourselves in—just like the tools in a literal toolbox. We wouldn’t use a screwdriver and a hammer to do the same job, would we? Which is the best tool for the job? EPDs are the best tool available when considering the value of an animal as a parent. While this is true, we must keep in mind this does not account for differences in production environments; nor does it account for correlation among traits that could lead to unintended changes in one trait while selecting for another. Also, the multiple columns of EPD data we find in sale catalogs can be a bit overwhelming!
Indexes are not new to livestock production, swine and dairy producers have been using them for decades. Economic value indexes are calculated with production situations in mind, and most beef breed associations publish at least one index with their EPDs. Currently, NALF calculates and publishes one index—$MTI (mainstream terminal index). Economic value indexes allow for multiple trait selection using one number expressed in dollars per animal. Multiple EPD values are each weighed by an economic value to give us that one index value that can help to simplify selection and mating decisions. We interpret index values like EPDs, so the difference between the index values of two bulls would be the expected difference in the average dollar value of progeny when bred to similar cows. It is important to note that accuracy values are not published for indexes, so caution should be used when making decisions involving young continued on page 64
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