The Lifetime Net Merit (NM$) index – which ranks dairy animals based on their combined genetic merit for economically important traits – will be revised with the April 1, 2025, evaluations. The 2025 update revises some methods to estimate trait values and many income and cost variables, such as milk prices, feed requirements, and reproductive options. Cheese Merit $, Fluid Merit $, and Grazing Merit $ are also being updated. The merit indexes combine economic values for 12 individual traits plus five composite subindexes into a single value.
The technical documentation from USDA AGIL was updated in February, related to values of individual traits included in type composites.
Definition of Type Composites in Merit Indexes
Producer article “Introducing Net Merit 2025”
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