At the NALF Winter board meeting the board of directors voted to rename their new terminal index to Terminal Profit index (TPI) and sunset the old Mainstream Terminal Index (MTI) effective January 1st, 2025. The board also voted to rename the FE (Feed Efficiency) sub-index to $G (Gain) to stay consistent with IGS nomenclature.
As you may recall, the North American Limousin Foundation released its Terminal Index last February which is built utilizing iGENDEC. Recently at its summer board meeting, the NALF board of directors approved an adjustment to the Terminal Profit Index which increases the emphasis on dry matter conversion rates by incorporating weaning to yearling weight spread for cattle, PWG (YW-WW) weighted by a marginal economic value of $.277).
YW and WW were removed in the current updated version of NALF’s TPI. By incorporating PWG spread from WW to YW, correlations for both weight traits have increased by nearly double and better reflect the value of dry matter conversion in today’s competitive cattle feeding business as it relates to feed efficiency and cattle that have superior cost of gains.
iGENDEC is a web-based tool to enable the construction of economically optimal selection indexes. iGENDEC allows for index customization through adjustment of economic and production parameters to reflect actual historical price data and made available via the Beef Improvement Federation.
The new Terminal Index (TPI) has been constructed to identify sires that produce the highest profit potential for fed cattle. The new index was created using the most recent 10 years of USDA reported fed cattle and grid pricing data, K-State reported feedlot cattle performance and NALF data. The bio-economic index represents a leap forward in selection technology and was developed using the iGENDEC platform. The new TPI index models the use of Limousin sires on Angus based cows with all calves marketed on a value-based carcass grid. The units reported represent expected differences in profit per mating.
Below are the EPD traits and Marginal Economic Values used in the updated NALF Terminal Index.
EPD TRAIT MARGINAL ECONOMIC VALUE
HCW 1.608
REA 23.361
FAT -162.185
MS 43.01
DMI -20.656
CE .957
PWG spread .277
The above marginal values which are determined by parameters in the iGENDEC program and simply multiplied by each EPD trait and then added up for a total $ index value on each animal in the herdbook. The range seen on NALF’s 4500 active sires reflects a high of $210.00 and a low of -$16.00 with a mean of $94.00. You will be able to query and look up cattle by classification in the NALF DigitalBeef system similar to other EPDS.
It is important to remember that the Terminal Profit Index is specifically designed for terminal sires that excel in feeding performance, carcass characteristics on an economic relevant basis. It utilizes actual historical price data and is much more reflective of today’s current fed cattle market and feeding performance requirements in the fed cattle industry.
While NALF’s older Mainstream Terminal Index (MTI) has served us well the last 20 years, it is based off older carcass price spreads and yield grade premiums that have changed dramatically in the last 20 years in the commercial cattle business. The iGENDEC software is a leap forward for index development that lets us keep up with actual market pricing structures and feed cost in an ever-changing formula and grid marketing base system.
The feed efficiency sub-index, $G formerly named FE has also been renamed to $Gain. Dry matter intake is a key component to $G along with an animals PWG potential to reflect an animal’s feed conversion capability. The key to DMI is to remember a lower percentile rank is not necessarily a bad thing. As long as cattle are giving you back adequate gain for their intake then you are still producing pounds efficiently. The real use of DMI is to get to the correct expression of feed conversion rates. This is the most important item to measure for feed efficiency and NALF will do this with the new $G sub-index and updated Terminal Profit Index via IGENDEC that are now being published.
You will find cattle that range in the 50th to 90th percentile for DMI but rank exceptionally well on their new ($ Gain EPD) if they are converting their intake. The $G sub-index that will be published weekly by IGS simply measures cost of feed and an animal’s individual intake versus the value of a fed steer on a 5-year average adjusted by an individual animal’s gain. The formula for $G is listed below:
(Ration cost @ $280 per ton/2000 lbs = -$.14 X DMI EPD) +( Fed market value at $1.17/160 days X PWG) = $G (Feed efficiency sub index)
$G for feed conversion represents the marginal value of gain over feed cost. The higher the $G sub-index EPD, the better or reflective of superior conversion of feed to pounds gained. (Cost of feed based off an animals DMI is calculated as a negative number and added back to the market value per pound X an animals’ post weaning gain).
If you have questions about the new TPI index, please contact Mark Anderson at the NALF office.
The NALF board voted to sunset the MTI index as of January 1, 2025. The board has also approved moving forward with the development of a maternal Index for females once IGS has finished and released the Mature Cow Weight EPD for all IGS cooperators.
Limousin cattle deliver to your bottom line. With superior genetics, a simple crossbreeding plan and state-of-the-art selection tools, the Limousin breed will serve profit-minded cow/calf producers. In today’s competitive markets, taking advantage of all available opportunities is key. The Limousin breed offers a variety of options from Fullblood to Purebred to the Lim-Flex® hybrid (Limousin x Angus cross) to match your program’s needs and market goals. Crossbreeding for the right blend of muscle, maternal ability and profit is easy with Limousin seedstock.