The Commercial Beef Value (CBV) is an ICBF genetic value for all animals destined for beef production.

It comprises five traits that are important to a non-breeding (drystock) enterprise and allows farmers to make more informed sale/purchase decisions with this important genetic information to hand.

The CBV is expressed as a € value like the EBI and Euro-Star Indexes. The higher the € value, the higher the animal’s genetic merit for the traits included.

What traits does the CBV cover?

There are five traits included in the CBV. These are:

  • Carcase weight.
  • Carcase conformation.
  • Carcase fat.
  • Docility.
  • Feed intake.

    • It is essentially the Euro-Star Terminal Index with the calving traits removed.

    While calving traits are important to the farmer breeding the animals, they are of no economic significance to the farmer buying the animals.

    The CBV has two accompanying ‘star ratings’. An ‘across breed’ which ranks all animals across all breeds and a ‘within-breed type’ which ranks animals according to breed type. There are three ‘within breed type’ categories:

  • Suckler (beef sire and beef dam).
  • Dairy x beef (one dairy parent and one beef parent).
  • Dairy x dairy (dairy sire and dairy dam).

    • Farmers often have a set enterprise in terms of the type of animal they buy, eg continental suckler weanlings, dairy x beef store heifers, Friesian bull calves, etc.

    The ‘within-breed type’ star rating will help farmers identify the highest genetic merit animals within the breed type of interest to them.

    Table 1 details the CBV star-rating percentiles (cut-offs). A suckler animal, for example, with a CBV of €250 would be a three-star ‘within-breed type’ and four-star ‘across breed’.

    Is it working?

    ICBF analysed a group of dairy bullocks finished in 2023 and they found that, when ranked on CBV, the top 10% came in at a calf price of €99, a finished price of €1,538 and a finishing age of 817 days; compared with the bottom 10% coming in at a calf price of €56, a finished price of €1,263 and a finishing age of 833 days.

    There was a bigger difference between the top 10% and bottom 10% in terms of Angus bullocks finished in 2023. The top 10% came in with a calf price of €249, a finished price of €1,763 and a finishing age of 778 days. The bottom 10% came in with a calf price of €191, a finished price of €1,490 and a finishing age of 831 days.

    How can I access the CBVs?

    Farmers can access the CBVs of their animals through the ICBF website. You don’t have to be a member of Herdplus to access the CBVs. Under the ‘view profiles’ dropdown, click on ‘Commercial Beef Value’.

    This will open a profile which shows all eligible animals with their CBVs, star ratings and each of the five trait values. The CBV values will also show on mart boards for any calf or adult animal that has been DNA registered or genotyped.

    Summary

    Whether it be male dairy calves at three weeks old, or continental suckler steers at 18 months old, having genetic information to hand when making sale/purchase decisions is vital for farmers.

    The analysis has shown that the CBV is predicting animals that ultimately have higher carcase performance.

    Farmers can, therefore, incorporate the CBV into their sale/purchase decisions and use it as a tool to aid the purchase of calves and the price they pay for them.