The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has again criticised the changes to the beef breeding indices.
The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) has brought in the changes to the terminal and replacement indices, which will see star rating changes for some animals.
The changes came into effect on Tuesday (November 28).
Commenting on the new ratings, ICSA president Dermot Kelleher said: “The ICSA met with ICBF back in early November where we were reassured that no drastic changes would be made. This has turned out to be far from the case however.
“The changes are proving to have considerable ramifications for farmers participating in the SCEP (Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme) and indeed for the future of the suckler sector as a whole.”
“The majority of suckler farmers want to breed a good stylish calf that will sell well in the mart or is fit to export. The problem now is that any artificial insemination (AI) sire that will do just that have been hammered, and therefore deemed unsuitable for use in the SCEP scheme,” he added.
According to Kelleher, the changes will do nothing to keep beef farmers in SCEP.
“In particular, the penalising of bulls that may be a couple of percentage above the average for calving for the breed will hit the majority of suckler farmers,” he added.
“We in ICSA would also contend that the idea of cutting the star rating of females from harder calving sires is over the top.
“It’s fine in theory to say you can breed for ease of calving but in the long run it’s hard to get everything right. We need a practical, common sense approach to calving difficulty in the context of suckler farming where quality of calf is everything,” the ICSA president said.
Kelleher claimed that any bull now deemed suitable for use in SCEP (under the changes) will not produce an animal fit for transport or for show and sale “in any mart for weanlings or fat stock sales”.
“The objective should be to encourage farmers to participate in the various schemes – not drive them away,” he said.
“There is plenty of ICBF data that suckler farmers find invaluable such as calving interval, feed conversion rates, beef output per hectare, etc; and for reducing your carbon footprint and improving your overall efficiency. These are all important indicators should be more important than a subjective view about calving.
“Many of our members have grave concerns about their future in the SCEP scheme and these concerns will have to be addressed,” Kelleher added.