Economic values in the Danish total merit index

From January 2002 a revised total merit index for sires and cows has been introduced to the Danish cattle breeders. The weights of the traits in the new total merit index are based on a total analyse of economic values of milk production calculated in a profit model using deterministic data simulation. The new total merit index includes two new groups of traits: “Other diseases” (other than udder diseases) and “Functional longevity”. The values for most functional traits have been increased whereas the values for type traits have been reduced considerably.