Sound breeding decisions are crucial to dairy herd profitability, but it can be all too easy to get blinded by breeding indices. Yet farmers can make informed breeding decisions if they start by looking at Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI), according to Marco Winters, director of DairyCo Breeding.
“Improvements in genetic gain can be made by focusing on seven main areas,” he says. “Most of these criteria are included in £PLI, so £PLI should be used as the primary selection tool (see chart). Farmers should then look at the six individual criteria, depending on specific breeding goals.”
1. Look at flow chart below for information on how to select bulls
2. Then look at the main diagram below for a more detailed description of specific selection criteria.