The economic breeding index (EBI) was introduced in 2001. It was developed as a way for Irish dairy farmers to determine the expected profitability/lactation of the progeny of an individual cow.
The success of its introduction cannot be questioned, with a large portion of Irish dairy farmers now using it as part of their breeding programmes.
The minds of dairy farmers are shifting towards the breeding season for 2023, with many now making their final preparations.
As the breeding season approaches, Teagasc has been holding a number of breeding events across the country. One of the events was the ‘Meeting future challenges by breeding better cows’ webinar on Thursday (March 23).
What has be achieved
Speaking on the webinar was Donagh Berry, a geneticist with Teagasc and director of Vistamilk SFI Centre, who explained what has been achieved by farmers using EBI.
“The EBI was launched in around 2001. It took us a while to get the momentum of the breeding programme going, but in around 2008/2009 fertility started to improve,” he said.
“The bend started to turn upright and the profit obtained from fertility improved.”
Berry said that the trend shows that there has been increased profits also being obtained from increased milk production.
He also spoke about the recently introduced carbon sub-index and said that during the early years of EBI the carbon sub-index was increasing, due to increased milk production.
However, in recent years the carbon figure has improved, even with increased milk production he said.
Berry said this is due to the increased fertility within the national herd, which has allowed for this increased production to be achieved from grazed grass.
“This is a hugely positive story. You could look at this and say we are flat-lining in carbon – yes we are,” he said.
“But we are doing it, at the same time that we are increasing milk production – this is an unbelievable story.”
Commenting further, Berry said: “We have clearly shown that a €1 increase in EBI increases profitability by €2/lactation.”
Over the last 20 years the average EBI for the national herd has increased by €150, which makes the national herd on average €300 more profitable than 20 years ago.
He added that when these increased efficiencies are accounted for, there has been a 14% increase in the carbon efficiency of a kg of milk solids in that time period.
Future of EBI
Commenting on the future of the EBI and the possibility of the introduction of new traits, Berry said: “In order for a trait to be considered in a breeding index like the EBI it must fulfil three criteria.
“Firstly, it must be important; it must either be economically important, socially important or environmentally important.
“Two, there must be genetic differences; there are genetics differences is almost everything.
“And three – which is often the most difficult – it must be measurable.”
Berry said that when he looks at the current EBI he believes that there are three things that are missing.
The first was product quality, specifically milk and meat quality. He said that the fat and protein is included, but suggested that we get to a more granulate level and create a point of differentiation compared to other products.
The second area that Berry highlighted related to efficiencies, including the environment, methane emissions and the ability to convert feed into milk production better.
The third area that he highlighted related to health and disease, with Berry noting that the national herd is going to get older as fertility increases further.
Berry said that he believes that health is going to become the next barrier to achieving sustainable gains.
On methane emissions, Berry said that there are genetic differences between cows and the amount of methane they produce, with research conducted in Teagasc Moorepark showing that this is the case.