Expected genetic responses from selection indexes for Canadian dairy cattle under present and future milk pricing systems

Abstract

Expected selection responses and profit under alternative milk pricing scenarios for various selection indexes were compared: Lifetime Profit Index (LPI) with 60:40:0:0 emphasis on production:type:herdlife:somatic cell score and 9:2:0 relative weights on Protein:fat:milk, and Total Economic Value (TEV) reflecting the present pricing system, Neutral Total Economic Value (NTEV) and Future Total Economic Value (FTEV) reflecting future milk prices, each with 64:0:26:10 emphasis on production:type:herdlife:somatic cell score and 9:2:0, 1:0:0 and 18:–2:–5 relative weights, respectively, on protein:fat:milk and Large Herd Operator Index (LHO) with 83:17:0:0 emphasis and 13.5:–1.5:0 relative weights. Among the correlations between indexes the lowest was.93 (correlation of LPI with NTEV and FTEV) and the highest was 0.99 (between TEV and NTEV). For present and probable future milk pricing the most profitable sire selection indexes were TEV and FTEV in both whole and grade-only populations. When selection intensity and number of daughters per sire were equal to 1.0 and 50, respectively, profit expressed in Canadian dollars in net present value of lifetime profit of a milking daughter were 231.75 (226.62 in grade population) and 234.89 (229.89 in grade population) from TEV and FTEV respectively. The choice of sire selection indexes depends on individual farmer goals. However, if the total economic merit resulting from typical dairy production is the goal, then TEV and FTEV are advised for short-term and long term selection, respectively. Key words: Index, selection, genetic response, profit, milk pricing