Fig. 2, where schemes with selection performed in different step(s) are compared, shows that the large and significant (P < 0.05) difference, regardless of genetic correlation between the traits, occurs between schemes with truncated selection in multiplier and/or grow-out tier and a scheme with only random sampling of parents. Economic weights for the males selected from nucleus were ♂vCAND/vSIB 50/50. Economic weights for the phenotype selected dams in the multiplier were ♀vCAND/vSIB = 100/0. The genetic correlations between CAND and SIB (rg) were − 0.5, 0.0 or 0.5. The highest profit occurred when selection was performed in both steps, but the reductions in profit if one of the selection steps was omitted were marginal and non-significant (P > 0.05), even when compared to Trunc_extreme (Fig. 1b), which had the highest selection intensity in both steps.