Some 33 marts across the country are now displaying Euro-Star and EBI figures on their mart boards, according to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation.

The boards, which provide real-time information on the animals for sale in the ring, will allow farmers in marts to view the ICBF Euro-Star ratings for beef breeding stock and the EBI ratings for dairy stock.

More marts will begin to display these figures in the future as the installation of these mart boards is still an on going process, the ICBF said.

A list of marts showing Euro-Star and EBI figures Source: ICBF

A list of marts showing Euro-Star and EBI figures Source: ICBF

Conditions an animal must meet before information is displayed

In order for animals to have figures displayed on the mart boards they must meet a number of criteria, according to the breeding federation.

An animals information will be displayed once it resides in a herd that is currently taking part in the Beef Data and Genomics Programme or a herd who is currently subscribed to ICBF’s HerdPlus service.

Dairy stock must have an index that is above average for EBI (€69) while beef stock must have either 4 or 5 stars either within or across breeds before the information will be displayed.

Animals belonging to farmers who are currently participating in the Genomics Programme or who is a member of HerdPlus are currently eligible for their information to be displayed, once they meet the criteria, the ICBF said.

At the moment, 44% of animals in herds that are currently in the Genomics Programme/HerdPlus are being displayed on the mart boards, according to the breeding federation.

However, the ICBF expects these numbers to increase at a steady pace in the future with the re-opening of the BDGP scheme and more and more herds signing up to HerdPlus.