The International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) is an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) which was formed in 1951, in Rome. ICAR strives to be the leading global provider of Guidelines, Standards and Certification for animal identification, animal recording and animal evaluation. ICAR wants to improve the profitability, and sustainability of farm animal production by:
- Establishing and maintaining guidelines and standards for best practice in all aspects of animal identification and recording.
- Certifying equipment, and processes used in animal identification, recording and genetic evaluations.
- Stimulating and leading: continuous improvement, innovation, research, knowledge development, and knowledge exchange.
- Providing services essential to achieving international collaboration in key aspects of animal recording and animal breeding.
Interbull was formed in 1988. It is a subcommittee of ICAR and regulated by an ICAR appointed Steering Group. Interbull serves as an international bull evaluation service. CDCB performs an official evaluation tri-annually and distributes the results to Interbull. Interbull then combines all data received from different countries and applies a scientific method called Multiple Across Country Evaluation (MACE) to calculate International Genetic Evaluations.