A BREEDING value that identifies valuable dairy traits will soon be available for young calves.

This will be possible through a technology called genomics, which will enable dairy farmers to have their young stock tested for traits such as fertility, milk yield and protein, identifying individual DNA markers which represent these values.

University of Melbourne animal geneticist Michael Goddard, who is working on genomics for the Department of Primary Industries, said the technology should save dairy farmers time and money.

He said it would also enable faster genetic progress.

"Dairy farmers can use young bulls instead of waiting for them to get proven," Prof Goddard said.

"A bull calf had to wait until it was five years old before a decent ABV . . . a reliable ABV.

"(With genomics) a reasonable, reliable ABV will be available from a little calf."

Working with Genetics Australia and the Dairy Co-operative Research Centre, Prof Goddard said genomic Australian Breeding Values would be available next year.

He said he hoped the testing service, for interested dairy farmers, would come soon after that.

Genomics works by testing samples of up to 50,000 DNA markers, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs, in cattle.

This is done using a sample of blood from a bull or cow.

Prof Goddard said results would be sent back to dairy farmers, however they would be of most value added into the Australia Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme database for breeding information.

The technology costs about $400 to test 50,000 SNPs, but Prof Goddard said researchers aimed to get the cost of the test down to $40 per animal by reducing the numbers of SNPs tested.

About 3000 SNPs would be tested for the cheaper price, which Prof Goddard said was more practical for commercial animals.

As the number of SNPs decreases, accuracy also decreases.

Nevertheless, Prof Goddard said the technology would still be valuable for identifying traits and the option to test for 50,000 SNPs would still be available for breeding purposes.

The US Department of Agriculture has also been trialling genomic technology with the US equivalent of ABVs.

Prof Goddard will join other genomic experts to make a presentation at the Herd 09 herd improvement conference at Bendigo next week.