Beef breeders across Northern Australia utilising ABRI’s direct to breeder Tropical Composite BREEDPLAN service are set to benefit from several enhancements released in the June 2025 Tropical Composite BREEDPLAN evaluation.

These enhancements include: 

1. Upgrade to BREEDPLAN version 6.2

The operating system on which the Tropical Composite BREEDPLAN evaluation is run has been transitioned from a legacy system to one which will carry the Tropical Composite BREEDPLAN evaluation into the future. To do so, we have been required to upgrade Tropical Composite to BREEDPLAN version 6.2.

This transition to BREEDPLAN v6.2 means a more comprehensive approach to the modelling of genetic groups has now been implemented. This allows for better separation of base animals according to various breed contributions as well as accounting for other breed contributions represented in the data. Consequently, changes in EBVs may be apparent for some animals, especially those more closely related to the foundation of breeds and those with one or both parents unknown.

2. New BreedObject Selection Indexes released

Two new selection indexes have been released for Tropical Composite BREEDPLAN. The new indexes are the:

• Self Replacing index
• Terminal index

These two new selection indexes replace the previous selection index published for Tropical Composite BREEDPLAN. Further information about the new selection indexes is available from the BREEDPLAN website here.