Farmers participating in the Beef Data Genomics Programme (BDGP) have been reminded of the requirement that 50% of their suckler herd must be genotyped four or five-star females on or before October 31, 2020.
Speaking at the Teagasc ‘Beef Seminar‘ event, which took place in the Springhill Hotel, Kilkenny, last night, Thursday, February 6, the ICBF’s Chris Daly outlined the importance of the deadline to farmers at the event.
He noted the previous deadlines of October 2018 – to have had 20% eligible females genotype 4 and 5-star animals – and the stock-bull deadline in June 2019.
If a farmer is unfortunate enough to not meet that target, it’s a penalty of 140% of your payment.
Daly explained: “What that means is if your gross payment out of BDGP every year is €1,000, the department will not give you any money this year and they’ll hold back 40% of that €1,000.
“So next year’s €400 would be held back out of maybe a BPS or Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) payment.”
He reminded farmers: “The consequences of not meeting that are fairly severe.”
However, Daly explained: “If you’re using AI, this is a non-event because almost all AI bulls available in catalogues now are four or five-star on a replacement or terminal index.”
He outlined that ICBF has issued “about 20,000 letters” recently, informing farmers of the animals to be tagged as part of the programme for 2020.
Concluding, Daly advised farmers to check their progress via the online profile and said that reports issued in the post are simply “a snapshot of a given day” and said “a week later, it could be out of date”.