diff --git a/go-controller/pkg/libovsdb/libovsdb.go b/go-controller/pkg/libovsdb/libovsdb.go
index 292e7561ce..60cf926be3 100644
--- a/go-controller/pkg/libovsdb/libovsdb.go
+++ b/go-controller/pkg/libovsdb/libovsdb.go
@@ -148,6 +148,11 @@ func NewNBClientWithConfig(cfg config.OvnAuthConfig, promRegistry prometheus.Reg
 	enableMetricsOption := client.WithMetricsRegistryNamespaceSubsystem(promRegistry, "ovnkube",
 		"master_libovsdb")
 
+	// define client indexes for objects that are using dbIDs
+	dbModel.SetIndexes(map[string][]model.ClientIndex{
+		nbdb.LoadBalancerTable: {{Columns: []model.ColumnKey{{Column: "name"}}}},
+	})
+
 	c, err := newClient(cfg, dbModel, stopCh, enableMetricsOption)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/go-controller/pkg/libovsdbops/loadbalancer.go b/go-controller/pkg/libovsdbops/loadbalancer.go
index a6b909b4cc..5cc074c9fd 100644
--- a/go-controller/pkg/libovsdbops/loadbalancer.go
+++ b/go-controller/pkg/libovsdbops/loadbalancer.go
@@ -57,25 +57,6 @@ func BuildLoadBalancer(name string, protocol nbdb.LoadBalancerProtocol, vips, op
 	}
 }
 
-// CreateLoadBalancersOps creates the provided load balancers returning the
-// corresponding ops
-func CreateLoadBalancersOps(nbClient libovsdbclient.Client, ops []libovsdb.Operation, lbs ...*nbdb.LoadBalancer) ([]libovsdb.Operation, error) {
-	opModels := make([]operationModel, 0, len(lbs))
-	for i := range lbs {
-		lb := lbs[i]
-		opModel := operationModel{
-			Model:          lb,
-			OnModelUpdates: onModelUpdatesNone(),
-			ErrNotFound:    false,
-			BulkOp:         false,
-		}
-		opModels = append(opModels, opModel)
-	}
-
-	modelClient := newModelClient(nbClient)
-	return modelClient.CreateOrUpdateOps(ops, opModels...)
-}
-
 // CreateOrUpdateLoadBalancersOps creates or updates the provided load balancers
 // returning the corresponding ops
 func CreateOrUpdateLoadBalancersOps(nbClient libovsdbclient.Client, ops []libovsdb.Operation, lbs ...*nbdb.LoadBalancer) ([]libovsdb.Operation, error) {
@@ -85,7 +66,6 @@ func CreateOrUpdateLoadBalancersOps(nbClient libovsdbclient.Client, ops []libovs
 		lb := lbs[i]
 		opModel := operationModel{
 			Model:          lb,
-			ModelPredicate: func(item *nbdb.LoadBalancer) bool { return item.Name == lb.Name },
 			OnModelUpdates: getNonZeroLoadBalancerMutableFields(lb),
 			ErrNotFound:    false,
 			BulkOp:         false,
@@ -107,7 +87,6 @@ func RemoveLoadBalancerVipsOps(nbClient libovsdbclient.Client, ops []libovsdb.Op
 	}
 	opModel := operationModel{
 		Model:            lb,
-		ModelPredicate:   func(item *nbdb.LoadBalancer) bool { return item.Name == lb.Name },
 		OnModelMutations: []interface{}{&lb.Vips},
 		ErrNotFound:      true,
 		BulkOp:           false,
@@ -127,11 +106,9 @@ func DeleteLoadBalancersOps(nbClient libovsdbclient.Client, ops []libovsdb.Opera
 		// can't use i in the predicate, for loop replaces it in-memory
 		lb := lbs[i]
 		opModel := operationModel{
-			Model: lb,
-			// TODO: remove UUID match from predicate once model_client prioritizes indexed search over predicate
-			ModelPredicate: func(item *nbdb.LoadBalancer) bool { return item.UUID == lb.UUID || item.Name == lb.Name },
-			ErrNotFound:    false,
-			BulkOp:         false,
+			Model:       lb,
+			ErrNotFound: false,
+			BulkOp:      false,
 		}
 		opModels = append(opModels, opModel)
 	}
diff --git a/go-controller/pkg/libovsdbops/model.go b/go-controller/pkg/libovsdbops/model.go
index a7d3e27eb0..d2c116d85f 100644
--- a/go-controller/pkg/libovsdbops/model.go
+++ b/go-controller/pkg/libovsdbops/model.go
@@ -152,6 +152,8 @@ func copyIndexes(model model.Model) model.Model {
 	case *nbdb.LoadBalancer:
 		return &nbdb.LoadBalancer{
 			UUID: t.UUID,
+			// client index
+			Name: t.Name,
 		}
 	case *nbdb.LoadBalancerGroup:
 		return &nbdb.LoadBalancerGroup{
@@ -362,9 +364,6 @@ func buildFailOnDuplicateOps(c client.Client, m model.Model) ([]ovsdb.Operation,
 	var field interface{}
 	var value string
 	switch t := m.(type) {
-	case *nbdb.LoadBalancer:
-		field = &t.Name
-		value = t.Name
 	case *nbdb.LogicalRouter:
 		field = &t.Name
 		value = t.Name
diff --git a/go-controller/pkg/ovn/controller/services/loadbalancer.go b/go-controller/pkg/ovn/controller/services/loadbalancer.go
index d32602cdd2..7657bdba78 100644
--- a/go-controller/pkg/ovn/controller/services/loadbalancer.go
+++ b/go-controller/pkg/ovn/controller/services/loadbalancer.go
@@ -98,8 +98,6 @@ func EnsureLBs(nbClient libovsdbclient.Client, service *corev1.Service, existing
 	}
 
 	lbs := make([]*nbdb.LoadBalancer, 0, len(LBs))
-	existinglbs := make([]*nbdb.LoadBalancer, 0, len(LBs))
-	newlbs := make([]*nbdb.LoadBalancer, 0, len(LBs))
 	addLBsToSwitch := map[string][]*nbdb.LoadBalancer{}
 	removeLBsFromSwitch := map[string][]*nbdb.LoadBalancer{}
 	addLBsToRouter := map[string][]*nbdb.LoadBalancer{}
@@ -117,13 +115,10 @@ func EnsureLBs(nbClient libovsdbclient.Client, service *corev1.Service, existing
 		existingGroups := sets.Set[string]{}
 		if existingLB != nil {
 			blb.UUID = existingLB.UUID
-			existinglbs = append(existinglbs, blb)
 			toDelete.Delete(existingLB.UUID)
 			existingRouters = sets.New[string](existingLB.Routers...)
 			existingSwitches = sets.New[string](existingLB.Switches...)
 			existingGroups = sets.New[string](existingLB.Groups...)
-		} else {
-			newlbs = append(newlbs, blb)
 		}
 		wantRouters := sets.New(lb.Routers...)
 		wantSwitches := sets.New(lb.Switches...)
@@ -136,18 +131,12 @@ func EnsureLBs(nbClient libovsdbclient.Client, service *corev1.Service, existing
 		mapLBDifferenceByKey(removeLBsFromGroups, existingGroups, wantGroups, blb)
 	}
 
-	ops, err := libovsdbops.CreateOrUpdateLoadBalancersOps(nbClient, nil, existinglbs...)
+	ops, err := libovsdbops.CreateOrUpdateLoadBalancersOps(nbClient, nil, lbs...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create ops for ensuring update of service %s/%s load balancers: %w",
 			service.Namespace, service.Name, err)
 	}
 
-	ops, err = libovsdbops.CreateLoadBalancersOps(nbClient, ops, newlbs...)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create ops for ensuring creation of service %s/%s load balancers: %w",
-			service.Namespace, service.Name, err)
-	}
-
 	// cache switches for this round of ops
 	lswitches := map[string]*nbdb.LogicalSwitch{}
 	getSwitch := func(name string) *nbdb.LogicalSwitch {