Which profit index is for me?
The three economic breeding indexes—£PLI, £SCI, and £ACI—help you choose the right bulls for your calving system.
Each index suits a different system:
- Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI): Use this for all-year-round calving herds (within-breed comparisons only).
- Autumn Calving Index (£ACI): Use this for autumn block-calving herds (compare across breeds).
- Spring Calving Index (£SCI): Use this for spring block-calving herds (compare across breeds).
Use £PLI only to compare animals within the same breed, as each breed has its own base.
Use £ACI and £SCI when comparing animals across different breeds or crossbred animals, as both indexes use a shared base.
The figure below shows which index best suits your system.
If you run an all-year-round crossbreeding system, focus on £ACI when comparing animals across breeds. You can still use £PLI when comparing animals within the same breed.
Profit index weights
Since each index is designed for different systems, each has a different relative performance to suit the different needs.
The figure below illustrates how the £PLI, £ACI and £SCI emphasise different traits.
* Trait reversed for presentation purposes.
Content provided by AHDB
