The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) has said that it is making a number of improvements to the National Genotyping Programme (NGP) in response to concerns raised by farmers.
The NGP is a collaborative initiative enabling Ireland to take the first step in achieving a fully genotyped national herd.
The programme, administered by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), is based on a cost-sharing model between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), the beef and dairy industry and participating farmers.
The first year of the five-year programme (2023), with a budget of €23 million, is being funded entirely through the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) fund.
Genotyping programme
In a statement issued this evening (Tuesday, February 20), ICBF said that over 127,000 passports have been issued to date under the programme, which is now in its eighth week.
It said that the current average length of time that a sample spends in the laboratory is 4.5 days. 98% of calf samples are spending less than 7 days in the lab.
“The 2% that are taking longer than 7 days are understandably causing some frustration among farmers,” it added.
ICBF said that over 87,000 calf samples under the NGP were received into the laboratory last week, with 20,000 samples received in the post today alone.
The average turnaround time from birth to passport being issued was 13.1 days, it said.
To date, ICBF said that over 230,000 calf samples received in the laboratory, with 151,246 calves samples genotyped.
The latest data shows that 1.58% of samples received to date have been deemed as unsuitable or empty.
Improvements
In response to concerns, ICBF said that it will begin implementing a number of improvements to the programme, including automatically issuing a calf’s passport when the sample hits day 10 in the lab.
Once this happens, the farmer should receive the passport in the post in the coming days. The genotype result will follow thereafter.
“This should relieve any concerns about moving animals in a timely manner,” ICBF said.
In the event that a sample is a sample is identified as unsuitable or empty, ICBF said that a passport will be issued automatically
The farmer will be required to follow up with their tag company to order a new DNA button tag to resample the calf for its genomic evaluation.
ICBF noted that some farmers have expressed concerns around receiving passports on different days, despite sending all samples together.
“While this is a normal occurrence, we are endeavouring to reduce the incidence. Please rest assured that samples are being processed as quickly and efficiently as possible,” it said.
Delays
Meanwhile, Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard told Agriland that he has been contacted by around a dozen farmers in the NGP who are concerned the amount of time it is taking passports to come back to them.
“Traditionally, when they [farmers] sent on the application form over the years, they’d get it back in three or four days. Talking to people now at the moment, you’re looking at a scenario that it could be anything up to two, maybe even three weeks in some locations.
“One of the stories I heard last night was an individual with a male calf who was waiting 21 days for the passport to come back and the genotyping came back as inconclusive and he has to go through the entire process again.
“He was hoping to move that calf off to the mart and now he is in a scenario that he is kind of stuck in limbo in many ways,” Lombard said.
The Cork-based senator said that it was important to ensure the system is streamlined and there is adequate capacity in laboratories to carry out testing so farmers have the ability to trade calves.
He noted that farmers have 42 days to move calves off farm, otherwise they are required to carry out a bovine tuberculosis (bTB) test which would involve an additional cost.
“That’s probably one of the big concerns that farmers have at the moment to make sure they gets passports back in a suitable period of time and then move that animal on,” he said.
“We’re going to see the peak in calves probably the next 10 days. A large volume of samples are going to be tested.
“We need to make sure that the capacity is in labs to make sure farmers get the passports back in time,” Lombard added.
ICBF
In his role as vice-chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Lombard said that he is seeking clarity on the current situation.
The senator, who fully supports the National Genotyping Programme, has asked the committee to write to the ICBF to get an update on this issue.
“I’m hoping now that the committee will agree to that proposal which would hopefully be very beneficial because farmers need information.
“This is a really important scheme. This is to make sure that Ireland is going to be one of the drivers when it comes to genetics in the entire world but its about making sure farmer get information regarding this issue,” he said.