Catalogue - Welshpool Livestock Sales

12Maternal Calving EaseThis EBV predicts how easily a bull’s daughters will calve. It should not be confused with the Calving Ease EBVwhich predicts how easily a bull’s progeny will be born.The Maternal Calving Ease EBV is calculated from calving records and is expressed as a % indicating theproportion of unassisted calvings.InterpretationA bull with a Maternal Calving Ease EBV of 2% will produce females that have 1%more unassisted calvings than a bull with an EBV of 0.EBVs are also produced for: Longevity, Age at First Calving and Calving Interval but these are not yetpublished at breed sales.7. How to Use EBVs and IndexesEBVs are expressed in the same unit as the recorded trait (e.g. kg for 400-Day Weight, mm for Muscle Depthetc) and are relative to a Breed Benchmark, which is updated and published annually.Limousin Breed Benchmark 2013TraitBOTTOMAVERAGETOP1% 10% 25%25% 10% 1%Gestation Length (days) 3.7 1.9 1.2 0.5 -0.2 -1.0 -2.6Calving Ease (%) -8.4 -4.7 -3.3 -2.3 -1.1 -0.3 1.0Maternal Calving Ease -1.0 -0.2 0.2 0.6 1.0 1.2 1.7Birth Weight (kg) 3.4 2.4 1.9 1.3 0.9 0.4 -0.4Calving Value LM-4C LM-2C LM-1C LM0C LM1C LM2C LM4C200-Day Milk (kg) -6 -3 -2 -1 1 2 5200-Day Weight (kg) -4 6 12 17 25 32 45400-Day Weight (kg) -4 13 22 30 43 55 77Muscle Depth (mm) -0.7 0.6 1.2 2.1 3.1 4.1 6.0Fat Depth (mm) 0.4 0.1 0.0 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.6Beef Value LM6 LM13 LM16 LM20 LM26 LM31 LM41Maternal Value LM-21V LM-9V LM-3V LM4V LM9V LM16V LM28VWhen using EBVs it is important to remember that although they can be compared between herds, theycan not be compared between breeds.