The NAV Dairy Cattle Workshop was held on 20 January in Copenhagen, bringing together stakeholders for discussions on NAV’s strategy 2026–2028, the upcoming NTM revision, and current Nordic research in methane emissions and climate-smart breeding. The workshop also included updates from EBE and breed-group discussions on proposed weights of Saved Feed in NTM. Workshop presentations are available via the link below.
NAV Dairy Cattle Workshop 2026 – Presentations
Saved feed was included in the Nordic Total Merit (NTM) in 2020 for all breeds. With the introduction of new saved feed index in February 2025, its weighting in the NTM for Holstein has been adjusted. The new weight for saved feed is 0.18, more than double the previous value of 0.08. For NTM, 10 index units in saved feed will change NTM by one unit. A bull with 110 in saved feed will increase NTM by one unit according to the changed weight for saved feed.
The introduction of the new saved feed index has also changed the correlation between NTM and saved feed, not only for Holstein but for all breeds. The updated NTM correlations can be found on NAV homepage.
The first NAV routine evaluation this year took place as scheduled. The NAV Bull Search has been updated with the new EBV’s and GEBV’s. NAV Beef Search is also updated with new beef x dairy breeding values.
In the dairy cattle evaluation new saved feed index was introduced. While the name and the interpretation of the index remain unchanged —higher values still indicate lower feed consumption—the index has undergone significant changes. These changes have affected the correlation between NTM and the saved feed index across all breeds. Additionally, the weight of saved feed in NTM has been adjusted for Holstein.
Read more about the changes:
Nordic Total Merit (NTM) includes all economically important traits and breeding for NTM increases the economic profit per cow. Higher NTM gives higher production and more functional cows and at the same time more climate friendly cows with less methane per production unit.
Read more from the paper Higher NTM give less methane.