3.17 Breeding goals for Irish beef breeds (2024)
- Tessa Jacobs
- Kor Oldenbroek
Source also for the figures: Genetic Evaluations (icbf.com)
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.
The Replacement index estimates the suitability of the animal’s daughters for calving ability, milk production for the calf, fertility and low maintenance costs as suckler cow. The index consists of two parts: the cow traits and the calf traits. The next figure gives the relative economic weight of each trait incorporated in the Replacement index.