The commercial beef value (CBV) is a genetic tool launched by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) in December 2021 and is an index that quantifies the genetic potential of cattle destined for beef production.

The CBV is expressed in a euro value, with higher-value cattle indicating they have superior genetics. When ranked in terms of stars, the top 20% are five-star versus the bottom 20% which are one-star.

The index looks at the main traits needed for a profitable beef system – these include carcase weight (35%), feed intake (24%), factory spec (12%), carcase conformation (11%), finishing age (10%), carbon (7%) and docility (1%).

Profitability in dairy beef systems is centralised around the purchase price of calves and with the strong calf trade this spring, on display at BEEF 2026 in Teagasc, Grange, was how farmers could increase their slaughter price by selecting genetically superior calves at purchasing time.

The CBV index is available on cattle that are genotyped and will appear on mart boards, as well as ICBF HerdPlus.

Comparing

When comparing across 45,000 Angus-cross steers, it was seen that the top 20% (five-star CBV) of steers had a slaughter price of €170 more compared with the bottom 20% (one-star).

This was driven by a carcase weight of 21kg more at the time of slaughter and a grade higher on the grid.

Aside from the higher carcase weight, the top 20% of CBV cattle had a reduced finishing age of 27 days, which will reduce the overall cost on a dairy calf-to-beef system.

But how does this affect calf price?

It was seen that the top 20% of calves had a higher purchase price – on average they cost €200/head at purchase compared with the bottom 20% of CBV calves costing €55 less purchased at €145/head.

Spending the extra €55 at the time of purchase resulted in farmers having cattle slaughtered 27 days earlier and killing into €170/head more.

When averaged out across 50 calves, this will equate to an extra €8,500. The investment at purchase had a return of 3:1.