Irish Simmental Yearbook 2022-D 2 - Flipbook - Page 18
This leads to the 昀氀aw in the implementation;
despite the fact that the traits selected have some of
the highest genetic in昀氀uence, the CBV is currently
not being published for pedigree cattle or females
that have calved. It should be highlighted that due
to the CBV not being a breeding index it looks at
the animals direct genetic merit and the values are
calculated as an EBV (Estimated Breeding Value)
instead of a PTA (Predicted Transmitting Ability)
which is used in the other Indexes.
Trait
Carcass weight
Carcass conformation
Carcass fat
Docility
Feed intake
Heritability
38%
33%
30%
35%
43%
I see this as a major mistake which will limit the
potential to improve the pro昀椀tability and ef昀椀ciency
of the beef being produced by the sector. Usually
with breeding decisions there can be tradeoffs
and publishing the CBV would greatly assist in
making these decisions. For example, a farmer
could purchase one bull with a CBV of €150 or a
different bull that is 1% harder on calving but has
a CBV of €250. These are very practical risk/
reward type decisions that could be made and
would greatly increase the ef昀椀ciency of our beef
herd.
16
Another major concern is the apparent focus on
Feed Intake instead of Feed ef昀椀ciency and the lack
of focus on age of slaughter. The reality is that the
most carbon/昀椀nancially ef昀椀cient animals have a
higher feed intake to achieve their superior weight
for age; if animals are being penalized for high feed
intake but not getting recognized for their age of
slaughter, we will push the sector in the completely
wrong direction environmentally.
As with any index it’s ef昀椀cacy will be largely based
on its accuracy and as breeders, the challenge has
always been to get the indexes to re昀氀ect the actual
performance of our animals. That said I think
that CBV has the potential to greatly improve the
quality of beef produced by the sector as it will not
be skewed by extreme calving easy of extreme short
gestation as the current Terminal Index can be.
However to fully harness the potential of the Index,
the information has to be available to farmers when
they are making breeding decisions rather than
昀椀nding out afterword.
IS THE CBV A GAME CHANGER? - Irish Simmental Yearbook 2022
Emmanuel O’Dea