Finding the $1,300 herdsire gap in the alphabet soup

Geneticist Murray Hunt, MS, has shaped many of the production measurements in dairy production. In this article, he shares how using subindexes can explain how a bull can be well below average on the traits that empty stalls and still ride his components to a 96th-percentile lifetime profit index. That’s the whole blind spot in one line since health and welfare carry just eight percent of the composite LPI.

Hunt questions whether producers eHe qare breeding for profit, or just for index points. He offers guidance for working with semen representatives, asserting they reject any bull below herd average for health or reproduction subindexes.

The herds that’ll be ahead in five years won’t be the ones with the flashiest catalog. They’ll be the ones whose cull lists got boring because the same problems stopped showing up.” – Murray Hunt, MS

Source: The Bullvine, July 31, 2026. Link.

Key Takeaways for producers

• If you’ve never checked a sire’s Health & Welfare or Reproduction subindex, do it this proof run — a 96th-percentile LPI bull can sit at the 31st for health.

• If a bull falls below your herd average on health or fertility, keep him off your main-sire list regardless of composite rank.
• If you’re keeping your own replacements, run the five-of-six-above-50th filter on your current catalog or in-tank group and count how many “elite” bulls survive it.
• If lameness is creeping up, do the math yourself: $90–$300 a case times your incidence times your daughter count.
• If you’ve never opened Lactanet’s pLPI tool, log in once and re-weight the six subindexes to your herd’s real priorities.
• If a rep leads with a private index like DWP$, use it to break ties after the public-proof check — not to overrule a visible hole.

Related: How Murray Hunt revolutionized Canadian dairy genetics, The Bullvine, April 9, 2025. Link. Audio [22:32]. Andrew Hunt shares his father’s story in celebration of Murray Hunt’s 80^th birthday.

INSIGHTS: Hunt’s article is an excellent tool to use when discussing herd improvements through selective breeding. The focus on reducing transition disease will naturally pull veterinary teams into coaching producers on breeding decisions and herd management improvements.