In recent months, the SBTS & TBTS extension teams, in conjunction with BREEDPLAN staff, have reviewed the BREEDPLAN tip sheets relating to selection indexes.
Two new general selection index tip sheets are now available in the Help Centre on the BREEDPLAN website. These are:
This tip sheet introduces BreedObject selection indexes, outlines what selection indexes are available, and explains how to interpret selection indexes. It also provides a brief guide to using selection indexes in animal selection.
This tip sheet provides both seedstock and commercial beef producers with a detailed best practice guide to using BREEEDPLAN information, alongside other selection tools, for animal selection. Advice on pre-sale preparation for bull buyers is also provided.
In addition to reviewing the general selection index tip sheets, the team have also reviewed the breed specific selection index tip sheets. The previous ‘Interpreting Breed Selection Indexes’ tip sheet has been replaced with two new breed specific selection index tip sheets. These are now available in the Help Centre on the BREEDPLAN website, and are:
- Using Breed Selection Indexes
This tip sheet has been designed to provide your members, and their commercial clients, with a reference guide to help identify the selection index of most relevance to their production system(s). This tip sheet provides a brief guide to using the available breed society selection indexes in animal selection. An overview of each available breed society selection index is also provided (in dot point format for ease of comparison).
- Breed Selection Indexes: Technical Specifications
This tip sheet has been designed for those producers who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the technical specifications for each of the available selection indexes. This tip sheet provides an overview of the BreedObject selection index development process. The blue profit driver graph, the red EBV weightings graph and the green predicted response graph for each selection index, as were available in the previous ‘Interpreting Breed Selection Index’ tip sheets.
With the release of these new BREEDPLAN tip sheets, it is recommended that you identify any links on your breed society website that need to be redirected. In addition, it is recommended that you link directly to the BREEDPLAN tip sheet, rather than host a local copy on your own server. This will ensure that any future updates to the tip sheets are automatically captured.
Should you have any questions, comments or feedback on the new BREEDPLAN tip sheets, please contact us and we will put you in touch with the relevant SBTS or TBTS Technical Officer, or staff at BREEDPLAN.
