After a number of years consistent growth in beef AI usage in the dairy herd, it dropped for the first time in 2025 by 3%.
That said, the number of beef-sired calves coming from the dairy herd now stands at 615,059 – more than double the number of beef-sired calves registered to dairy cows in 2020.
Back then, the industry was facing big issues with the quality of beef coming from the dairy herd.
An overemphasis on easy calving and short gestation genetics by dairy farmers meant carcase weight was dropping along with grades dropping and fat scores increasing at a younger age.
Easy calving bulls were selling so that’s what AI stations concentrated on.
That was then; fast forward to 2026 and huge changes have taken place in relation to the genetics used in the dairy herd.
There is more of an understanding on the need to breed dairy beef calves with good carcase characteristics and with that, demand has increased for better bulls while not losing out on calving ease or short gestation.
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 will allow farmers to make more informed sale/purchase decisions with the genetic information
to hand.
The CBV is expressed as a euro (€) value like the EBI and Euro-Star indexes.
The higher the euro value, the higher the animal’s genetic merit for the traits included. The five traits included in the CBV 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 them.
Does the CBV have a star rating?
The CBV index has two star ratings. An ‘across breed’ which ranks 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).Table 1 details the CBV star rating percentiles for suckler-bred animals. For example a Limousin-sired animal born in 2025 and in the top 10% will have a CBV index of €511.
Is the CBV identifying higher-
performing animals?
ICBF carried out analysis on over 40,000 steers slaughtered from July -December 2025 by comparing their slaughter performance to their CBVs.
The five-star animals (top 20%) had the highest performance at slaughter, and ultimately, the highest value carcases.
Table 2 outlines the CBV index values of animals born in the dairy herd in 2025. If you want to focus on high-CBV calves when purchasing over the next few weeks, you can use this table.
The CBV index values for average Aberdeen Angus calves is €137 so anything over this value will be above average.
If you are purchasing Belgian Blue calves and want to aim for the best you can buy, the top 10% of Belgian Blue calves are coming in at €298. Only animals that are genotyped (DNA-registered at birth) will have a CBV index displayed in marts.
When trading beef animals, farmers are generally reliant on liveweight and their own visual assessment of an animal to make a decision on its value.
These can be good indicators of an animal’s genetic potential and are important, but they may not give a complete picture. Some of the larger finishers buying big numbers of animals have moved in the last 12-18 months to paying attention to CBV values when purchasing animals. This has been on the back of data analysis within their own herds.
How can I access the
CBVs on my animals?
Farmers signed up to the ICBF HerdPlus service can access the CBVs of their animals through their HerdPlus account. 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.
Nearly all marts and online bidding platforms have CBVs showing on mart boards.
Summary
Like all other genetic indexes, the CBV index should be used as a tool to purchase animals that have higher genetic potential to make a margin on a beef farm.
Whether it be dairy male calves at three weeks old or continental suckler steers at 18 months old, having genetic information to hand when making sale/purchase decisions is important for farmers.
Better demand for higher-CBV calves should help drive higher DBI (Dairy Beef Index) bulls in order to generate higher CBV index calves.
The latest analysis from ICBF 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 with confidence that these animals will perform well on their farms.
Click https://embed.acast.com/65d4bf89947e9700162ee194/6995ac031774b22d5a1a2da0" frameBorder="0" width="100%" height="190px"> for our podcast.
After a number of years consistent growth in beef AI usage in the dairy herd, it dropped for the first time in 2025 by 3%.
That said, the number of beef-sired calves coming from the dairy herd now stands at 615,059 – more than double the number of beef-sired calves registered to dairy cows in 2020.
Back then, the industry was facing big issues with the quality of beef coming from the dairy herd.
An overemphasis on easy calving and short gestation genetics by dairy farmers meant carcase weight was dropping along with grades dropping and fat scores increasing at a younger age.
Easy calving bulls were selling so that’s what AI stations concentrated on.
That was then; fast forward to 2026 and huge changes have taken place in relation to the genetics used in the dairy herd.
There is more of an understanding on the need to breed dairy beef calves with good carcase characteristics and with that, demand has increased for better bulls while not losing out on calving ease or short gestation.
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 will allow farmers to make more informed sale/purchase decisions with the genetic information
to hand.
The CBV is expressed as a euro (€) value like the EBI and Euro-Star indexes.
The higher the euro value, the higher the animal’s genetic merit for the traits included. The five traits included in the CBV 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 them.
Does the CBV have a star rating?
The CBV index has two star ratings. An ‘across breed’ which ranks 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).Table 1 details the CBV star rating percentiles for suckler-bred animals. For example a Limousin-sired animal born in 2025 and in the top 10% will have a CBV index of €511.
Is the CBV identifying higher-
performing animals?
ICBF carried out analysis on over 40,000 steers slaughtered from July -December 2025 by comparing their slaughter performance to their CBVs.
The five-star animals (top 20%) had the highest performance at slaughter, and ultimately, the highest value carcases.
Table 2 outlines the CBV index values of animals born in the dairy herd in 2025. If you want to focus on high-CBV calves when purchasing over the next few weeks, you can use this table.
The CBV index values for average Aberdeen Angus calves is €137 so anything over this value will be above average.
If you are purchasing Belgian Blue calves and want to aim for the best you can buy, the top 10% of Belgian Blue calves are coming in at €298. Only animals that are genotyped (DNA-registered at birth) will have a CBV index displayed in marts.
When trading beef animals, farmers are generally reliant on liveweight and their own visual assessment of an animal to make a decision on its value.
These can be good indicators of an animal’s genetic potential and are important, but they may not give a complete picture. Some of the larger finishers buying big numbers of animals have moved in the last 12-18 months to paying attention to CBV values when purchasing animals. This has been on the back of data analysis within their own herds.
How can I access the
CBVs on my animals?
Farmers signed up to the ICBF HerdPlus service can access the CBVs of their animals through their HerdPlus account. 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.
Nearly all marts and online bidding platforms have CBVs showing on mart boards.
Summary
Like all other genetic indexes, the CBV index should be used as a tool to purchase animals that have higher genetic potential to make a margin on a beef farm.
Whether it be dairy male calves at three weeks old or continental suckler steers at 18 months old, having genetic information to hand when making sale/purchase decisions is important for farmers.
Better demand for higher-CBV calves should help drive higher DBI (Dairy Beef Index) bulls in order to generate higher CBV index calves.
The latest analysis from ICBF 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 with confidence that these animals will perform well on their farms.
Click https://embed.acast.com/65d4bf89947e9700162ee194/6995ac031774b22d5a1a2da0" frameBorder="0" width="100%" height="190px"> for our podcast.
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