John Cole breaks down indexes and how to effectively use them in your herd on this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast. Cole serves as the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding's chief research and development officer. Learn about the math and data that’s involved in calculating an index, Cole’s recommendations for using indexes and a few new tools from CDCB.

Here is the episode breakdown:

• 1:00 – Rapid-fire questions
• 3:15 – Cole’s background
• 8:20 – Defining an index
• 15:30 – Balancing regional markets within Net Merit
• 19:05 – Utilizing fluid, cheese or grazing merits
• 23:45 – Creating a herd-based index
• 29:25 – Patience with a genetic plan
• 36:10 – First service to conception