10. Interbull CoP - Service fees

10.1 A running two-year budget for the service will be presented annually to the Interbull Steering Committee and service users for approval.

10.2 Interbull service fees are reviewed and set by the Steering Committee annually

10.3 Annual contributions to finance the service are based on a 5-Year Increase in Milk Daughters, and the current fee structure for dairy-production traits is as follows:

* as of January 2026

Example: a country with a 5-years increase in number of daughters equal to 410 000 daughters will pay €4 455 (basic fee) + (100 × €54.65) + (200 × €20.84) + (109 × €7.80) = €14 946 for milk production traits.

All breeds are considered in the 5-Years Increase in Milk Daughters. The appropriate number of 5-years increase in milk daughters is computed by Interbull Centre based on the April's MACE production results of the year before.

For a service user with more than one data provider for MACE services, the Basic Fee would be calculated using a 10% multiplier (4455 Euro x 10% = 446) that is added for each additional data-providing NGEC.

A discount system as applied to the evaluation of Novel Traits, is described in section 10.2 Service Fee Structure for Novel Traits.

For any new service users/NGEC joining MACE services for production traits, the annual fee for the initial years shall be determined based on the No. of Milk Recorded Cows until the NGEC has participated long enough for the fee to be calculated using the “5-Year Increase in Milk Daughters".

10.4 Interbull service fees for subscribing to the conformation traits evaluation are 30% of the service fee for milk production traits.

10.5 Interbull service fees for subscribing to the milk somatic cell and clinical mastitis evaluation are 15% of the service fee for milk production traits.

10.6 Interbull service fees for subscribing to the longevity evaluation are 15% of the service fee for milk production traits.

10.7 Interbull service fees for subscribing to the calving traits evaluation are 15% of the service fee for milk production traits.

10.8 Interbull service fees for subscribing to the female fertility traits evaluation are 20% of the service fee for milk production traits.

10.9 Interbull service fees for subscribing to the workability traits evaluation are 5% of the service fee for milk production traits.

10.10 Interbull service fees for subscribing to GEBV validation test are 15% of the service fee for milk production traits.

10.11 Interbull service fees for subscribing to genotyped-based evaluations are described in Appendix VII

10.12 Interbull service fee for subscribing to the Truncated MACE evaluation are: a fixed fee of €1 545 for NGECs submitting data for a single breed, and €2 575 for NGECs submitting data for 2 or more breeds.The TMACE participation fee for a service user with more than one data provider, is calculated using a 10% multiplier that is added for each additional data providing NGEC.

10.13 Sharing of genetic traits information via IDEA AnimInfo is subjected to a fee as described in Appendix XI

10.14 Subscribing to the GenoEx-PSE service is subjected to a fee of €1060.

10.15 Fees apply to NGECs providing data for the international evaluations.

10.16 Service users will be billed once per year, usually within 60 days after receiving the April international evaluation. Service users/NGECs joining a service after the annual invoice has been sent, will receive a supplementary invoice, usually in November.

10.17 The Interbull service user is responsible for raising the national contribution within country/region.

10.2 Service Fee Structure for Novel Traits

10.2.1 The funding model for novel traits that includes a fee structure expressed as a percentage of the fee paid for MACE services for production traits. This approach is consistent with all other trait groups with MACE services.

10.2.2 The distinction for novel traits, however, is that NGECs which have invested the longest on the collection of the new phenotype will benefit most from a lower fee. NGECs with a higher proportion of bulls proven for the novel trait in question (i.e.: cma) relative to production (i.e.: Milk) can receive a level of credit to a maximum of 50%. NGECs that have more recently started collecting the new phenotype are given the opportunity to lower their fee after a reasonable period of collecting these phenotypes. Therefore, the period to be included in the fee calculation is set to a 15-year period, ending 6 years from the current year (i.e. 2015 in 2021).

The level of credit is determined by the proposed Contribution Category as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Novel Trait Groups Data Contribution Categories

10.2.3 As of 2026, further incentives are provided for participation in evaluations for novel traits: Clinical Mastitis, Metabolic Diseases and Claw Health. In addition to the above discount principles, Service Users contributing 20% or more of the total dataset in the Interbull MACE evaluation for any individual breed are recognized for their substantial role in the evaluation of that breed, and given a 50% discount on the full fee. The maximum discount for any given Service User for any given Trait Group remains at 50%.

10.2.4 The above principles have led to the following MACE Service fee structure for Novel Traits Groups:

1. The fees charged for Novel Traits Groups in MACE Services will be based on a 15-year window of birth years for proven bulls included in MACE for Milk. The last birth year to be included in the time window will be six years prior to the current calendar year (i.e.: ending in 2015 for 2021).
2. The Contribution Categories applied to Novel Trait Groups will be based on five groups by quintile.
3. The “Base” fee for cma evaluations is 8% of the Production fee. Therefore resulting in a fee of 4% for NGECs with the maximum credit based on Contribution Category 5 (80-100%).
4. The fees for Novel Traits will be based solely on the calculations applied to the breed with the highest number of qualifying bulls for Milk, which will most often be the Holstein breed. Payment of such fees therefore allow that NGEC to participate in the Novel Trait MACE services for all breeds.
5. The Country of Origin for each bull will be designated as the country with the maximum number of daughters in the published MACE evaluation for Milk.

6. Service Users contributing 20% or more of the total dataset in the Interbull MACE evaluation for any individual breed are recognized for their substantial role in the evaluation of that breed, and given a 50% discount on the full fee.

7. The maximum discount for any given Service User for any given Trait Group remains at 50%.