The commercial beef value (CBV) will be available on mart boards from 1 March, the Irish Cattle Breeders Federation (ICBF) has announced. However, the figure will only be displayed for genotyped animals to ensure the data is accurate.

Animals that will have a CBV include suckler males and uncalved females, dairy x beef males and uncalved females, and dairy x dairy males.

The ICBF says that the CBV will provide greater clarity to drystock farmers as it takes both the sire and the dam into consideration, providing information on key production traits such as carcase weight, conformation, feed intake and docility.

Widespread use of the CBV will only happen once DNA-tagging is mandatory. In January, Minister McConalogue told the IFA AGM he would like Ireland to become the first country in the world to genotype all livestock in the country.