Current Beef Percentiles and Star Cut Offs
Beef Genetic Evaluation Files September 2025
Euro-Star proofs and stars for AI sires along with individual traits and reliabilities (Excel)
What is the €uro-Star Index?
The €uro-Star Index is designed to aid in the selection of more profitable breeding animals for the suckler herd. This gives farmers more information to select better males and females to breed for either Replacement or Terminal traits.
The €uro-Star Index is made up of two main indexes, the Replacement and Terminal Index.
The Replacement Index looks at the maternal traits such as milk and fertility, whilst maintaining the traits needed to produce weanlings. Suckler farmers aiming to breed replacement heifers should focus on the Replacement Index. Calf traits account for 41% of the overall Replacement Index while the cow’s traits contribute to 59% of the index.
The Terminal Index looks at the beef traits of an animal such as carcass weight and conformation. Farmers wanting to breed animals for finishing or sale as weanlings should focus on the Terminal Index
The €uro-star rating system was designed to make it easier for farmers to understand with 1 star animals being in the bottom 20% and 5 star animals being in the top 20%
Within breed stars are for ranking purebred animals against other purebreds from the same breed. – E.g. a purebred Limousin bull’s within breed stars tells you where his genetic index ranks him amongst all other purebred Limousin animals
Across breed stars are for ranking an animal’s genetic index against animals from all of the other breeds. – Commercial (non-purebred) animals will only get ‘Across Breed’ stars as they are made up of many different breeds
Understanding €uro-Stars
Farmers should look at the within breed stars or across breed stars as well as the individual traits of importance for their herd. Within breed stars rank an animal against other animals of the same breed, while across breed stars rank an animal against other animals across all beef breeds. It is important to look at the individual traits that make up an animal’s overall index, such as carcass weight or daughter calving interval.
For example, the two bulls below are both 5 stars on the Replacement Index, but the traits that make it up are different. The main difference between these bulls is the carcass weight trait:
- Bull B’s carcass weight PTA is around 18kgs lighter than Bull A’s.
- Bull A’s PTA for docility is 5 stars compared to Bull B at 3 stars. This suggests that Bull A’s progeny on average will be much quieter than Bull B’s.
- Age at finish is another trait that varies between these two bulls. The difference in age at finish is -3.21 days, therefore the progeny of Bull B should on average have an earlier age at finish over Bull A.
This demonstrates that animals can have the same Replacement/ Terminal Index value but the individual traits that contribute to the overall index can vary.
Why do €uro-Stars change?
ICBF has a large database which receives information about animals on a daily basis. Data such as calving surveys, weights, carcass records and death dates are sent to ICBF from farmers, weight recorders, linear scorers, marts & factories, etc.
ICBF takes all of this information and runs it through its genetic evaluation system which takes place every two months. The latest information that will have gone into the ICBF database since the previous run is then reflected in a change to the €uro-Stars of animals connected to that data.
For example, it could be that a full brother of your bull has found to be very hard calving in another herd – this will then affect your bull’s rating for calving difficulty. So, it is crucial to remember that the €uro-Stars of your bull are not just affected by the progeny that he sires on your farm
Why does my animal not have a €uro-star rating?
The most common reason for a €uro-star rating not to be displayed on an animal is generally because the sire may not be recorded. You can record this online or on the HerdPlus app through Record Events > Missing Sire
How do I improve the €uro-Star rating of my stock?
Here are some basic guidelines that will gradually help you improve the €uro-Star ratings of your stock over time.
- Join HerdPlus – HerdPlus will give you the information to become familiar with the €uro-Stars of your stock.
- Record ‘Missing Sires’ – Record the sires of any animals in your herd for which the sire is currently unknown.
- Weight Record – Weigh your youngstock while they are still suckling their dams.
- Genotype – Make sure to return any requested DNA samples to ICBF for the genomic evaluations of your stock.
- Use AI – AI will give you access to a wide range of bulls with high reliability and excellent €uro-Star ratings. If you have a stock bull, using some AI in your herd is still highly recommended so his progeny can be benchmarked against AI sired stock. Thus, influencing his own €uro-Stars.
- Use the Inbreeding and Predictions tool – This will allow you to match up your bull(s) to your suckler cows which have the best chance of being 4 or 5 stars within the respective index you’re trying to improve