THE FEED EFFICIENCY SUB-INDEX, $G OR $GAIN Dry matter intake is a key component to $G along with an animals PWG potential to reflect an animal’s feed conversion capability. The key to DMI is to remember a lower percentile rank is not necessarily a bad thing. Cattle that are giving you back adequate gain for their intake are still producing pounds efficiently. The real use of DMI is to get to the correct expression of feed conversion rates. $ G is used to find cattle that are superior for Feed Efficiency. You will find cattle that range in the 50th to 90th percentile for DMI but rank exceptionally well on their new ($ Gain EPD) if they are converting their intake. The $G sub-index that will be published weekly by IGS simply measures cost of feed and an animal’s individual intake versus the value of a fed steer on a 5-year average adjusted by an individual animal’s gain. The formula for $G is listed below: (Ration cost @ $280 per ton/2000 lbs = -$.14 X DMI EPD) +( Fed market value at $1.17/160 days X PWG) = $G (Feed efficiency sub index) $G for feed conversion represents the marginal value of gain over feed cost. The higher the $G sub-index EPD, the better or reflective of superior conversion of feed to pounds gained. (Cost of feed based off an animals DMI is calculated as a negative number and added back to the market value per pound X an animals’ post weaning gain). When evaluating a sires for $G, The EPD range for All Limousin Active sires reflects a high of .25, an average of .10 and a low of -0.03 for NALF’s active sires.
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