$B Value- Terminal Value? You decide

I don't get many sale catalogues anymore, got this one today, with this little write up in it.

Quote "

There are many new EPD's that have been developed in the past two years by all breed assn. As recommended by Bill Bowman, Head of Breed Improvement[u] of the AAA. They can all be used as tools, not single trait selection.

$B, in our opinion, is generally misunderstood for what it stands for. It for some reason, is the "popular" $value that many extension, and purebred breeders talk about, even though it is also k nown as the terminal value.

If your total goal is to have a $value that measures strictly feedlot and carcass merit, $B may be your main value. Remember $B is not designed to be driven by just one factor such as quality, red meat yield or weight. It is a post-weaning performance and carcass value, both and only.

The best approach, in our opinion, is to use a combination of $EN (cow energy requirements) $W (BW, WW, cow size,) $F (post weaning merit), $ G (carcass grid merit), along with $B. However, if you retainfemales, sell your calves at weaning, or retain ownership using only $B you may end up with a herd of bigger, hard doing, hard feeding, high maintainance females.

Balanced EPD's, fertility, "kind", soundness, longevity, carcass and great udders are our program. Be very careful of single trait selection, unless you have a terminal end-point. End Quote


I tried to present it just as written.


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you can have all the $ indexes as they all have assumptions in them. I still like the basic epd's bw, ww, yw, maternal and looking at docility and tenderness indicators thru igeneity.