Gènes Diffusion is launching, at the Sommet de l’Élevage 2026, a new index Useful Matter per Day of Life (MUJV). Designed for Prim’Holstein, it identifies the animals that best combine production of fat matter and protein with longevity, in order to improve their value over the course of their careers. “We chose to express it as an economic equivalent, in euros per cow over her entire career, so that the gains would be clearer to farmers,” says David Couhard, Holstein genetics representative at Gènes Diffusion. It is part of an approach to optimizing profitability livestock farms.
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Available for genotyped bulls and females
This index will be available from November 1ᵉʳ 2026 for genotyped females genotyped, including those already evaluated, at no additional cost to breeders. For bulls, it will appear from the next index publication. Breeders will also be able to find it on their breeder portal and in the Optigen mating software.
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The MUJV offers breeders two options: direct the matings toward bulls whose daughters have better potential for useful-material production on a clong rear and refine the renewal of the herd by identifying, through genotyping, the heifers with the best genetic potential. David Couhard explains that “the MUJV index is strongly correlated with the ISU and all the functional and of health. It makes it possible to improve the herd’s profitability without lowering the other strong indices.”
An average gain of more than 1000 € over a cow’s lifetime
According to Gènes Diffusion, the daughters of the top 10% of bulls for the MUJV index produce, compared with the average for daughters of bulls with more than 30 daughters, +1924 kg of milk over their lifetime, +198 kg of milk solids, +21 days of production, and -37 days to first calving. These performances would represent an economic gain estimated at + 1014 € per cow over the course of his entire career, according to the valuation assumptions adopted by Gènes Diffusion.
