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EBI is a single figure profit index aimed at helping farmers identify the most profitable bulls and cows for breeding dairy herd replacements. It comprises of information on seven sub-indexes related to profitable milk production. These are; (1) Milk production, (2) Fertility, (3) Calving performance, (4) Beef Carcass (5) Cow Maintenance (6) Cow Management and (7) Health. A summary of the subindexes, including traits and relative weightings for traits in the EBI are given in Table 1. The economic values in the index are based on data collected from Irish Dairy Farms and the Dairy Industry.

Table 1. Economic Values and % emphasis of the various traits in the EBI formula

Why does the EBI value of my animals keep changing?

This is probably one of the most common questions about the EBI system. Here at ICBF we have a large computer, called a database, which receives information about animals on a daily basis. Data such as calving surveys, milk recording, weights and birth and death dates are sent to us from farmers, milk recorders, Linear Scorers, Marts & Factories etc. We then take all of this information out of the database three times a year and run it through the genetic evaluation system.

It is crucial to remember that the EBI of your cows are not just affected by the cow’s performance on your farm.

The new information that has gone into the ICBF database since the previous run is then reflected in a change to the EBI of animals connected to that data. It could be that a full sibling of your animal has found to be very hard calving in another herd – this will then affect your animal’s rating for calving difficulty. So it is crucial to remember that the EBI of your cows are not just affected by the cow’s performance on your farm.