Shorthorn trial Net Feed Intake (NFI) EBV

Abstract

Net feed intake (NFI) is a trait developed to describe differences between animals for feed efficiency. NFI is defined as the difference between the feed eaten by an animal and that expected to have been eaten given the animal’s weight and gain during a 70-day test period. A lower (more negative) NFI record reflects a more feed efficient animal (i.e. an animal eating less given its weight and gain). BREEDPLAN has been calculating a NFI EBV since 2003 for the Angus and Hereford breeds. The Durham R&D project has been collecting NFI records for several years on subsets of the domestic finished cattle. These records, along with those from the BEEF CRC1, have now been used to compute NFI EBVs for Shorthorn. Given the limited number of records these EBV have to be considered as trial EBVs only.