The Nordic Beef on Dairy Index (NBDI) was first published in 2018 and replaced earlier national breeding values for beef on dairy cows in Denmark, Sweden and Finland. The index currently has close to 700 bulls with calculated indices.
Because the NBDI is created across breeds, you will find all the major beef breeds within the top 50 on the index list. The breeds are Aberdeen Angus, Charolais, Belgian Blue, Blonde d’Aquitaine, Hereford, Limousin and Simmental. Of course, each breed has its strengths and weaknesses, but with the NBDI you can pick a trait among the sub-indices included and search for the highest-scoring bulls for that trait.
The traits that are evaluated in NBDI are (with either short or long rearing period):
- Birth
- Calf survival
- Calving ease
- Growth
- Daily carcass gain
- Carcass conformation score
- Carcass fat score
If you would like more information on the traits, you can go to the NAV beef search website here, press the “Search” button on the right side, and then let the mouse hover over the traits where information boxes will appear.
The beef breeding values and sub-indices are standardized to an average breeding value of 100 with a standard deviation of 10. The NBDI index has a standardized average breeding value of 0 and a standard deviation of 10.
To calculate the index, the bulls are progeny tested on dairy cows in Denmark, Sweden and Finland within the dairy breeds Holstein, Jersey and VikingRed. Four times a year, in February, May, August and November, the index is re-calculated in the proof run, adding new bulls who have enough offspring to have a reliable index published.
