Which profit index is for me?
Our three economic breeding indexes – £PLI, £SCI, and £ACI – help you make quick decisions about choosing bulls most suited to your calving system.
The systems that the three different rankings are designed for are:
- Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) – a within-breed ranking for all-year-round calving herds
- Autumn Calving Index (£ACI) – an across-breed ranking for autumn block-calving herds
- Spring Calving Index (£SCI) – an across-breed ranking for spring block-calving herds
The £PLI should only be used to compare animals within a breed as each breed is set on it's own base, but, both the £ACI and £SCI are across-breed bases, so animals from different breeds and crossbreds directly compared with each other.
The figure below identifies the profit index most suitable based on system type. For all-year round crossbreeding, it is recommended to primarily use £ACI, especially when needing to compare across breeds, however, £PLI can be used when comparing animals of 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.