The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is awaiting a decision on whether the new national genotyping programme can be funded through the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) fund.

Discussions on the programme have been taking place between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), farming organisations and representatives from meat factories and dairy processors.

Arising from those discussions it is now understood that the department is planning to genotype 800,000 cows, the majority of which would be from the dairy herd, this summer.

Agriland understands that the department is hoping to roll out the scheme from July.

The programme will be undertaken by tagging and not by hair samples, which is commonly used by many dairy farmers who are currently genotyping animals.

Once the current herd has been genotyped, calves would be tagged each year and samples would be sent, in a similar manner to bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) samples.

Genotyping

DAFM has sought approval from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for funding to cover the initial year of the programme through the BAR fund.

It is believed that subsequent years will be co-funded by the department, farmers and industry.

The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) president, Pat McCormack said that the organisation sees the merits in genotyping but has “huge reservations” about the proposed scheme.

He said that issues including how the programme will be funded into the future still need to be ironed out.

“The primary producers bore the cost of the BVD programme and they are the lesser beneficiaries,” he said.

tax budget 2023 ICMSA Covid bonus Food Vision 2030 - ICMSA president
ICMSA president, Pat McCormack

McCormack said that the entire national herd should be genotyped to ensure the greatest benefit.

He added that all farmers should be facilitated with complementary testing if they wish to avail of it.

The ICMSA president said that dairy processors and meat factories will use genotyping as a marketing tool and therefore need to contribute to the cost of the programme to make it successful.

He said that industry needs to look to the future, adding that the costs of genotyping cannot be left at the door of the primary producer.

McCormack called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue to find funding for genotyping, similar to the €8 million National Liming Programme that was announced yesterday (Wednesday, March 16).

The minister previously stated that he wants Ireland to become the first country in the world to “genotype all livestock” in the country. 

Current ICSA president, Dermot Kelleher
ICSA president Dermot Kelleher

Meanwhile, the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), Dermot Kelleher said that widespread genotyping of calves would be an important step in helping farmers to discern between better and lesser animals in terms of beef potential.  

“Farmers in calf to beef or buying stores or weanlings need information on the genetic backgrounds of stock because it can be the difference between profit and loss.

“This will send a signal back to dairy farmers that they need to take beef merit into consideration on their breeding programmes if they want farmers to buy their calves.

“It will be important now to quickly roll out the CBV (commercial beef value) figures on all mart boards as soon as possible,” he said.

“ICSA has had discussions with ICBF and the department on this and we understand that the technology is ready.” Kelleher added.