22 January 2025

Accessing CBV – 3 tools every calf buyer needs to be aware of

The development of a number of tools by ICBF now means that accessing Commercial Beef Value (CBV) data is now much easier for the purchasers of calves, weanlings or even store cattle.

When used to inform purchasing decisions, CBV has the potential to allow farmers or cattle buyers to identify more efficient, higher performing and potentially more profitable animals. Its use by dairy calf to beef producers is particularly promising, as it is challenging to ascertain an animal’s potential for beef production from physical appearance alone at 2-4 weeks of age.

As part of a recent DairyBeef 500 webinar on ‘Sourcing and Finishing High Quality Dairy Beef Animals’, Chris Daly of the ICBF explored some of the tools available to access CBV information, while also sharing some notable dairy calving trends.

Key dairy calving trends:

• Since 2023, beef births to dairy dams have surpassed dairy births to dairy dams;
• Since 2018, beef sired calves from the dairy herd have increased by 249,689 head, with the largest percentage increases occurring in 2023 and 2024;
• In 2024, Angus (459,239 births) and Hereford (223,479 births) represented 79% of all dairy beef births;
• Belgian Blue (42,507 births), Charolais (16,127 births), Limousin (51,681 births) and Simmental (27,996 births) represented 16% of dairy beef births in 2024.
• From January 1 to October 26 2024, just under 1.6 million AI serves were recorded through AI technician handhelds, with dairy and beef straws being used equally.
• ~200,000 serves of sexed semen were recorded on AI handheld devices in this period in 2024;
• The average CBV of Dairy x Dairy animals has declined from €10.3 to -€1.2 from the period from 2010 to 2024. The CBV of Dairy x Beef animals has declined from €61 to €47 over the same period. Both have occurred as a result of falling beef traits of dairy cows as a result of a heightened maintenance sub-index in the EBI. An overzealous use of short gestation, easy calving sires has also contributed to the decline in CBV in Dairy x Beef animals.

Accessing the information

To provide more reflective information, the CBV is available for Suckler, Dairy x Beef and Dairy x Dairy animals, with a star rating and € value provided. As is the case with other breeding tools from the ICBF, five-star animals represent the top 20% of the population, whereas one-star animals represent the bottom 20%. A breakdown of star rating and € values for the different breed types are available in table 1 below.

Table 1: Commercial Beef Value (CBV) Star-rating percentiles*

*Based on November 2024 evaluation

When it comes to making informed purchasing decisions on an animal’s genetics for beef production, Chris Daly pointed to a number of tools.

Mart boards

Firstly, he explored the data available on mart boards. After first going live on March 1, 2023, ICBF has worked closely with livestock marts across the country to ensure that CBV data is now available in numerous locations across the country.

When a genotyped calf enters the ring, CBV data will be presented on the basis of breed type. For farmers in the market for either Dairy x Dairy or Dairy x Beef calves, a star-rating and € value, as outlined in table 1 above, will be provided – aiding purchasers identify animals with better genetics for beef production.

CBV data presented in a mart board

Mart Tracker

Another tool also discussed was the ICBF’s recently launched Mart Tracker, which enables farmers to search for potential animals meeting their needs before visiting the mart to assess physical appearance. On this, Chris Daly explained: “This is going to be very useful tool for farmers or anyone buying cattle to identify animals even before they go to the mart in the morning. They can check the mart tracker to see what animals are available.”

Again working closely with livestock marts, this tool can allow farmers to filter animals present for sale on the basis of mart location, breed, sex, age or even CBV.

CBV Catalogue

Where farmers are buying calves directly off farm, a useful tool that they need to be aware of is the CBV Catalogue. Recently developed by the ICBF, the generation of this report by the calf seller, provided the calves are genotyped and the herd owner is a member of HerdPlus, will give the potential buyers an insight into the genetic value of the animal destined for beef production.

This catalogue, he explained, which can be saved as PDF and either printed or distributed via email or WhatsApp message, shows all the animal’s details, such as tag, sex, sire, etc. Under CBV details, breed type, value and within breed type stars have been included, along with carcass weight, carcass conformation, feed intake, and age at finish, which are the traits of economic importance to non-breeding (drystock) farmers. This allows the potential buyer to make more informed decisions when purchasing animals.

Chris Daly explained: “If buying calves off farm, you should really be looking for this information. You should be asking the farmer to provide you with this information. There really isn’t any excuse for them not to be able to provide you with this because the animals are registered to their herd and they have access through their HerdPlus account so the information is there and available.”

For more information on the above, Chris Daly’s full presentation to DairyBeef 500 webinar on Sourcing and Finishing High Quality Dairy Beef Animals’ is available to view below:

For more information on the webinars hosted by the Teagasc DairyBeef 500 team, visit here.

Also read: Dairy-beef finishing – the key elements to get right

Also read: 4 reasons why farmers should use the Commercial Beef Value