Dairy Specialist at Teagasc, Stuart Childs delves into the changes to the ICBF evaluations as part of the September run, summarising what they may mean to farmers.

The ICBF has introduced changes and updates to the EBI in the past week. Namely, economic values that feed into the EBI have been updated to reflect the increased costs of milk production; the base cow has been updated; and the method used to complete the health and management evaluations have been improved.

Economic Value Updates

The economic values used to weight traits in the EBI have been revised to reflect rising input costs (feed, fertiliser, labour) and projected milk returns. Heifer growth costs have now been included in the Maintenance sub-index having previously been included in the beef sub-index. This will see alteration in the figures in these indexes.

Base Cow Change

The genetic “base cow” used as reference for PTAs (predicted transmitting abilities) has been updated from the old base of cows born in 2005 to cows born in 2015 and calved & milk recorded from 2017‑2019. Due to the base change, the EBI of every animal will drop by the same fixed amount. Farmers can expect a €97 downward shift as a result of the base change. The economic adjustments and the change combined have resulted in a net drop per animal of approximately €83.

Health & Management Trait Revisions

The Health and Management evaluation has been updated for greater accuracy. Multi-lactation records for health traits, inclusion of recent cow temperament scores, locomotion scores, improved data checks, and single step evaluation which is in line with international best practice will strengthen the health and management figures.

What This Means for Farmers

• Don’t be alarmed by lower EBIs on your cows, the drop is largely due to the base reset, not due to poorer genetics. You’re cows still have the same production capability they had last week – it’s just lower compared to the new, better, base cow’s figures.
• The revised indices better reflect current Irish farm costs and markets
• Improved trait evaluations (health, mobility, temperament) will help you identify animals with better resilience and lower risk over their herd lifetime.

ICBF insights

For more info, Stuart Childs was recently joined by Kevin Downing of the ICBF to discuss the recent changes to the EBI, listen in below:

Visit the ICBF website for more information on the changes to the EBI.

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