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Understanding bull and cow genetic reports
Bull and cow tables are automatically ranked on the relevant economic index, £PLI, £SCI or £ACI.
It is possible to re-rank on the other traits and changes will be indicated by an up/down arrow.
| £PLI | Profitable Lifetime Index. £PLI is calculated using a number of traits weighted by their relative economic value. The £PLI value represents the additional profit a high £PLI bull is expected to return from each of its milking daughters over her lifetime compared to an average bull of £0 PLI. The £PLI index has about 32% weighting on production traits and a 68% weighting on fitness traits. |
| £SCI | Spring Calving Index. £SCI is an economic breeding index, first published in August 2014. The £SCI is an across-breed index and represents the addtional profit a high £SCI bull is expected to return from each of its milking daughters over her lifetime compared to an average bull of £0 SCI. The £SCI is specifically designed for spring-calving herds, making extensive use of grazed grass, and has a 71% weighting on fitness traits which include: fertility, SCC, lifespan, calving ease and maintenance. |
| £ACI | Autumn Calving Index, £ACI was introduced in August 2018. It provides UK farmers operating an autumn block calving system, with a higher requirement for winter feeding and targeting production of around 7,500 kgs/yr, with an across-breed evaluation to highlight bulls suitable for their system. The index has been calculated on its own base and for a specific farming system; so comparison of bulls on the £PLI or £SCI list is not possible. |
| £PLI Rel | Reliability (%). The reliability of any genetic index is expressed as a percentage and gives an indiciation of how likely the index is to change over time. Bulls with reliabilities between 50% and 99% are included in the top bull lists. |
| Brd | AYR = Ayrshire; BSW = Brown Swiss; FRI = Friesian; GUE = Guernsey; HOL = Holstein; JER = Jersey; MON = Montbeliarde; SHO = Shorthorn; FCV = Fleckvieh |
| BC | Breed Code |
| Gen. | ''G'' indicates that Genomic information has been included in the bull proof. |
| Prod rel | Production reliability (%) is a measure of the accuracy of the animal's production proofs (milk, fat and protein). Bulls with reliabilities between 50% and 99% are included in the top bull lists. |
| Milk (kg) | Known as PTAs and calculated for Milk, Fat and Protein Yield, Fat and Protein Percentage. These are a prediction of the animals transmitting ability i.e. the predicted merit to be passed to progeny. |
| Maintenance | Maintenance (kg). A maintenance value has been calculated from traits closely related to a cow''s weight (stature, chest width, body depth and angularity). A higher value indicates a heavier animal and as a result there will be a greater cost associated with the maintenance (feeding) of that animal. |
| SCC | Somatic Cell Counts are expressed as transmitting abilities and as deviations from a fixed genetic base. SCC PTAs are expressed as a percentage i.e. %PTA. For every 1% in SCC PTA a change of 1% in cow SCC is predicted. It is important to note that a negative %PTA SCC indicates a reduction and is therefore good. |
| LS | Lifespan. In common with Milk, Fat, Protein and SCCs, Lifespan evaluations are also expressed as a PTA. The PTA is published in lactations with a general range of +/- 0.5 lactations. Some extreme bulls will have PTAs outside of this range. The PTA indicates the increase or reduction in lactations which daughters of a bull are predicted to survive in the herd relative to the daughters of a bull with a PTA of zero. |
| FI | Fertility Index (£). Daughter fertility predicted transmitting ability (PTA) based on insemination data, calving interval, and condition score of the bull’s daughters. |
| dCE | Direct Calving Ease. The ease with which the calf is born by a sire. Value range from -4.0 to +4.0. Values above 0 indicate easier calving sires. |
| mCE | Maternal Calving Ease. The ease with which an animal can calve itself as a mature animal. Values range from -2.0 to +2.0. Values above 0 indicate easier calving animals. |
| TB Adv. | TB Advantage (TB Adv.) indicates the degree of resistance to bTB a bull is predicted to pass on to his offspring and is expressed on a scale which typically runs from -3 to +3 and as for most other traits, positive values are desired. For every +1 point in the index, 1% fewer daughters are expected to become infected during a TB breakdown. |
| TM | Type Merit. Index ranges from -3.0 to +3.0. |
| Bull HBN | Breed Society Registration Number or DEFRA Eartag number. In order to prevent problems of duplicate identities and to improve the accuracy of the evaluation the Primary Identity i.e. the original name and number issued by the society of first registration, is used throughout the system. |