How does your herd's EBI compare to the average?
There is a lot of talk about cashflow at the minute, but what are the main things that drive dairy farm income?
The answer to that is simple, with grass and cows the biggest factors farms need to invest in.
Now that we are heading into the winter months, it may be a good time to sit down and look at the farm's data and see where improvements are needed.
The data will make it clear that grass had a poor year, much of which was out of control as a result of the drought.
If grass growth was poor even before the drought, a simple reseed or investment in the correction of soil fertility is relatively easy.
However, when it comes to the performance of cows, that is a different story, as breeding takes years to see results.
Every farmer has their own breeding programme focusing on desired areas, but a handy benchmark will always be the Economic Breeding Index (EBI).
EBI does not suit every herd, but when it does, Teagasc estimates that every €1 in the EBI delivers an extra €2 in profit.
With that in mind, farmers should be asking themselves where their herd's EBI stands.
EBI
As it stands, the average herd EBI sits at €116 according to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).
However the contrast between top-performing herds and bottom-performing herds is vast.
The top 1% of herds have an EBI of €191, with significant increases on the horizon as 2025 heifers sit at €259, and 2026 heifers sit at €266.
Within the top 1%, the milk sub-index stands at €51, while the fertility sub-index lies at €92.
Meanwhile, the bottom 1% of dairy herds have an EBI of €-40, with 2025 heifers sitting at €-47 and 2026 heifers sitting at €-26.
These herd have a milk sub-index of €-38 alongside a fertility sub-index of €-54.
| Top 1% | Top 5% | Top 10% | Top 25% | Average | Bottom 25% | Bottom 10% | Bottom 5% | Bottom 1% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 heifers | €266 | €240 | €226 | €199 | €168 | €129 | €81 | €46 | €-26 |
| 2025 heifers | €259 | €232 | €217 | €189 | €156 | €115 | €64 | €28 | €-47 |
| Cows EBI | €248 | €216 | €199 | €167 | €128 | €83 | €34 | €-1 | €-83 |
| Herd EBI | €191 | €179 | €172 | €151 | €116 | €88 | €57 | €31 | €-40 |
| Herd milk | €51 | €43 | €39 | €33 | €24 | €12 | €-4 | €-17 | €-38 |
| Herd fertility | €92 | €84 | €79 | €67 | €44 | €30 | €12 | €-6 | €-54 |
Meanwhile, the average carbon sub-index for 2026 heifers sits at €8; average calving sub-index at €17; average beef sub-index at €-6; average health sub-index at €9; average maintenance sub-index at €19; and average management sub-index at €-2.
It may be worth sitting down and looking over the EBI of your herd to see if you can improve some indexes without sacrificing others, in hopes of improving farm profitability.
