The
selection index or breeding value index of an animal is an estimate of how high the breeding value of the genetic progress of the individual breeding animal is, if these traits are evaluated as a whole. Within the individual breeds, the average index value of the breeding sows is always 100. The higher the index value is above 100, the higher the breeding value of this animal, measured as a production value within the herd. For all animals within the DanBred breeding system, the index value is updated weekly so that the new values are taken into account on an ongoing basis. The breeding animals are selected on the basis of this index value.
The index is formed of sub-indexes of the different traits summarised in the breeding objective, which are weighted according to their respective
economic value. A
sub-index gives an expected value of the extent to which the genetic progress of a breeding animal influences the respective trait in relation to the average value for the breed.
Not only are the animal’s own values used in the calculation of the animal-related index value, but also a range of data from the relatives of the animal, which leads to optimum certainty of the index value. Read more at
performance of the relatives.
The index is always calculated on Wednesday evening using the most recent data from the DanBred database. The calculation is made using the BLUP process (best linear unbiased prediction), which can compare the genetic value of the breeding animals with each other, even if these are in different herds and in different ratios.
You can find the current index of the
respective animal here.