The “integrated system” is a voluntary collaboration that starts on U.S. dairy farms and involves 60-plus cooperating organizations. Together, large volumes of data on individual dairy cows – millions of records each year – are entered into the National Cooperator Database that fuels dairy cow improvement.

The National Cooperator Database is the engine that helps breed better cows. It is the data source for U.S. male and female genetic evaluations and national benchmarks produced by CDCB as an independent, objective third party. The National Cooperator Database is the world’s largest database of animal genetic (genotypic) and performance (phenotypic) data. In 2024, the 100 millionth animal linked to performance data was recorded in the database. More than 11 million genotypes have been added since genomic evaluations were introduced in 2009. CDCB assumed maintenance of the database from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2013.

In 2024, 10,000 U.S. dairy herds contributed information to the National Cooperator Database, thanks to the farm owners and managers who opted in to share phenotypic data on individual cows. Herds represent diverse management styles, facilities, sizes, breeds, and regions.

Every herd benefits from reliable genetic evaluations – for sire or female selection – and new selection traits that lead to better cows. Additionally, herds that share data receive outputs back to make more informed animal management decisions, discounts on genomic testing, and higher reliability of predictions for genetics used on the farm. The entire dairy industry can make more, accelerated improvement through reliable genetic evaluations, data-driven decision tools, and independent research that adds value to dairy herds.

Phenotypic data includes lactation (yield, components, somatic cell count), health, calving, milking speed, and reproduction records from farm and partner-recorded insight as well as conformation scores from breed association classification. For all animals submitted for genomic evaluations, genotypes are automatically recorded. Both phenotypic and genotypic individual animal data points are tied together through unique animal identification and pedigree information.

Whatever the source, all data and organizations moving information into the National Cooperator Database must pass a robust quality certification process.

After herd owners agree to share their data, it moves from the farm through the integrated system into the national database housed at CDCB. The 60-plus collaborators specialize in collecting and submitting accurate data, analyzing milk and DNA samples, providing quality checks and standardization of records, evaluating cow conformation, and requesting genomic results.

This data from herds across the U.S. is aggregated and anonymized in the National Cooperator Database. Then, CDCB calculates genetic evaluations for 50 individual traits and four selection indexes – Lifetime Net Merit $, Cheese Merit $, Fluid Merit $, and Grazing Merit $. CDCB produces these U.S. breeding values for six dairy breeds and dairy crossbreds.

The tremendous volume of data, combined with robust quality certification, results in increasingly reliable genetic evaluations that are recognized as the global standard.

The “Powered by CDCB” mark indicates that the genetic evaluations are generated from producer-owned data in the National Cooperator Database. With this mark, introduced in 2024, dairy farmers and breeders can be confident the genetic information comes from an objective, independent, and pre-competitive source.

There’s an extra layer of data certification for herds that share their information with the National Cooperator Database. Herds benefit when their records go through a Dairy Records Processing Center (DRPC) into the aggregated national database. Owners and managers that process cow records have more accurate, complete data and better dairy decision tools, while contributing to genetic evaluations and improvement.

Strict data confidentiality standards protect the privacy of individual farms. All data is aggregated into the National Cooperator Database using codes that protect identifying information. Data control methods ensure that published results do not reveal identifiable information about individual farms (with the exception of animal ownership), thereby maintaining confidentiality and data integrity

Herd and animal data is integrated into the National Cooperator Database after standardization at Dairy Records Processing Centers (DRPCs), breed associations, and genomic nominators. CDCB utilizes this dataset to publish U.S. dairy genetic evaluations and national benchmarks. Data is also available to researchers at CDCB and approved research institutions for specific projects.

No data access to third parties is allowed unless authorized by the farm owner, and data is never sold by CDCB.

Herds using Dairy Herd Information (DHI) services can check data-sharing permissions with their DHI affiliate or service organization that collects milk samples and data on the farm. Herds that process records can also ask their Dairy Records Processing Center (DPRC) if data is making it through quality control steps and into the National Cooperator Database. A new platform, Herd Portal, is being developed as an easier way for producers to direct how and with whom their DHI records are shared. The Herd Portal will be managed by the National Dairy Herd Information Association (NDHIA).

When animals are genotyped and nominated for genomic evaluations, all submitted animal data and genotype lab results are automatically integrated into the database. Farms that genomic test animals and share their herd data with the National Cooperator Database receive a fee credit on genomic testing.