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In Ireland beef production with different beef breeds kept on grassland is a large economic enterprise. Records on pedigree, calving performance, weight at several ages and slaughter traits are stored by ICBF and processed into breeding values for bulls. Two indices are used for selection: a Terminal index and a Replacement index.
The Terminal index is based on low costs for production, i.e. low costs associated with calving, low mortality of calves, short gestation length, less feed consumed per kg of carcass and a high monetary return for the carcass. The Terminal index estimates the profitability of an animal’s progeny with regard to calf production, live weight and carcass weight and composition. The next figure gives the relative economic weight of each trait incorporated in the Terminal index.
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