Your Personalized Lifetime Performance Index (pLPI): A Tailored Approach to Genetic Selection
- April 4, 2025
The launch of Canada’s modernized Lifetime Performance Index (LPI) on April 1, 2025, brings with it several updates to the LactanetGen.ca website. Such features include the opportunity to view histograms for each subindex and create your personalized LPI (pLPI) for one or more breeds. Your pLPI formula is created by modifying the percentage relative emphasis you desire on each subindex, namely Production (PI), Longevity & Type (LTI), Health & Welfare (HWI), Reproduction (RI), Milkability (MI), and Environmental Impact (EI; available only for the Holstein breed). The specific traits included in each subindex and their relative weights for the official LPI were selected in consultation with breed associations and the Genetic Evaluation Board to meet industry breeding objectives. If you wish, however, to take a more tailored approach geared toward your individual goals and priorities, follow the three easy steps below to create your pLPI on the LactanetGen.ca website.
Viewing the LPI Subindexes
Modifications have been made to each animal’s Genetic Evaluation Summary page providing LactanetGen.ca users with histograms for each subindex, just like the Conformation and Functional trait sections. As a reminder, each LPI subindex is expressed on a standardized scale with an average of 500 and a standard deviation of 100. The histograms provide you with a quick reference to see the strengths and weaknesses of each animal helping you with selection and mating decisions.
Creating a Personalized LPI (pLPI)
Step 1: Sign In
Visit Lactanetgen.ca to sign in to your account. If you have yet to create your profile, click on “Sign Up”. Once registered you will receive an email prompting you to confirm your account.
Step 2: Create Your pLPI
Upon signing in, you will be automatically directed to your “Preferences” page to customize your viewing experience and create your pLPI. For each breed, the relative emphasis for each subindex in the official LPI is listed as well as boxes to the right to add your personalized emphasis for each subindex. If you entered a preferred breed in the upper section, then you will be provided the option to modify the subindex weights to create your pLPI for that same breed. You may create one pLPI for each breed of interest and the relative weightings must be whole numbers, adding to 100%. Click on “Add Another Breed” to meet your needs. To submit your pLPI relative weights, click “Save”.
Looking at the example below, this Holstein breeder would like to select for a herd that excels in all areas but with a more targeted focus on herd health and reproductive performance. As such, they have chosen to create a pLPI that puts more emphasis on the Health & Welfare and Reproduction subindexes, creating a pLPI with relative weights of 40% Production, 28% Longevity & Type, 10% Health & Welfare, 12% Reproduction, 5% Milkability, and 5% Environmental Impact.
Step 3: View the Results
There are several ways to view your pLPI alongside the official LPI for each animal outlined below. The displayed pLPI values are on a similar scale as the official LPI but results are not directly comparable.
- Animal Query
- Search by DHI Herd Number:
A new search feature by DHI Herd Number is available on the Animal Query page for herds enrolled on any of Lactanet’s milk recording services, including eDHI. First, navigate to your “Manage Profile” page and provide your DHI Herd Number and First DHI Test in the displayed month, if you didn’t already do so when creating your profile. Next, on the Animal Query page in the DHI Herd Number section, select your desired breed and submit the search to view the active females in your DHI herd inventory, which also includes a column with their Visible ID. In addition to the regular traits, you will now see a “pLPI” column beside the official LPI for each female allowing you to compare the two values.
2.Search by Name:
Utilize the “Name” option to search males by “Short Name (Full or Partial)” or males and females by “Name (Full or Start)” and view the pLPI for the list of all animals matching the query in question. When using this option to search females with a specific name prefix the resulting list includes the pLPI column as in the example below.
- Group Query
Using the Group Query tool for either males or females, including the Advanced Search options, will provide a list of animals including the pLPI for each.
In all the above scenarios, the pLPI column will only appear if you are signed in and have modified the pLPI for the breed of the query. Most query result columns are sortable. If you wish, however, to sort via the pLPI column, you will need to click the option to “Download to Excel.” This option will create an editable excel file where you can filter and sort as you wish.
Summary
Lactanet is committed to providing you with a variety of tools to support your selection and mating decisions! With the modernized LPI launched on April 1, 2025, you may wish to make selection decisions based on the official LPI, individual subindexes via histograms, or create your pLPI to prioritize subindexes that are most important to your herd performance. Visit LactanetGen.ca and create your user profile to get started.
