DELIVERING DOLLAR$

Many of today’s commonly used indexes are presented as dollar values. Do high ranking animals deliver the extra profit that is promised by these indexes? This is a much more complicated question that requires not just tracking eventual performance for multiple traits, but also some economic analysis. For this reason, validation of selection indexes is something that is rarely done.  

Zoetis’ Dairy Wellness Profit Dollars^® (DWP$^®) is one example of a selection index that has gone through this rigorous validation process. Results of this validation were published in the November 2020 Journal of Dairy Science. The study tracked lifetime performance of 2,185 genomic-tested heifers in five herds located in Wisconsin, South Dakota and Idaho.

Results showed that heifers in the top quartile for DWP$ generated $811 more profit during their productive life. For every $1 increase in DWP$, heifers returned an additional $1.84 of lifetime profit. This is very close to the expected return of $2 (since DWP$ is expressed as a transmitting ability). Additional profit for high DWP$ heifers came from higher lifetime production, higher pregnancy rates, fewer health events and lower death loss. 

Not only does DWP$ effectively rank heifers based on their future profitability, but the research demonstrates that extra emphasis on health traits in a selection index results in extra profit. The incidence of mastitis was reduced by 35 percent, lameness was reduced by 40 percent, metritis was reduced by 50 percent and displaced abomasum was reduced by 50 percent for high DWP$ animals. This resulted in fewer treatment expenses and less disruption of revenue streams, which resulted in additional profit opportunity. 

Only a few indexes available around the world have been validated through peer-reviewed, published research. DWP$ is now one of three indexes that can make this claim.