The U.S. dairy industry will soon see a new symbol with genetic evaluations – Powered by CDCB – when the information is provided by the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB). Use of this mark increases transparency in genetic evaluations, helping producers connect the quality and sources of information they use for breeding and management decisions.

“Think of the new Powered by CDCB mark on genetic evaluations like the REAL Seal on dairy products,” said João Dürr, CDCB chief executive officer. “This mark helps producers know the genetic information they are utilizing comes from an objective, independent, and pre-competitive source with evaluations based on data contributed by herds into the National Cooperator Database. As the stewards of the National Cooperator Database, CDCB believes producers should know when their data is utilized in genetic evaluations.”

Since 2013, CDCB has served as the steward of the National Cooperator Database, caring for dairy farmer-owned data and providing value-added products in return: genetic evaluations, national benchmarking, and independent research. As the national evaluation center in the United States, CDCB’s methodology for producing genetic evaluations is reviewed by dairy geneticists from across the industry and validated by Interbull, an international organization that sets the standards and examines procedures for all national evaluation centers.

The National Cooperator Database is the world’s largest database devoted to dairy cattle – and a sophisticated process assures the submission of high-quality data. This combination of data quality and quantity delivers increasingly reliable predictions of genetic merit and is a beneficial source for research.

“CDCB genetic evaluations are recognized as the global standard,” said Dürr. “The introduction of the new Powered by CDCB mark brings additional marketing prowess to U.S. genetic evaluations on a global stage.”

CDCB has been responsible for the publication of genetic evaluations, stewarding the National Cooperator Database and providing national dairy performance benchmarks since 2013. CDCB works in conjunction with the USDA-ARS Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory to research new genetic methodologies, selection traits and tools for reporting genetic conditions.