The board of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) has approved the implementation of changes to both the Terminal and Replacement beef indexes.
The changes come following an independent review as well as consultation with working groups and technical advisory panels.
According to ICBF, these changes stem from several years of research involving Teagasc and ICBF, arising from industry feedback and international best practice.
The last review of beef breeding indexes in Ireland occurred in 2016, with economic values based on the Teagasc bio-economic model at that time.
Due to the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP), the indexes remained untouched for the duration of the scheme, despite changes in economic costs.
The fundamental improvements to the genetic evaluations include:
- Updates to economic values;
- Inclusion of carbon;
- Inclusion of new traits;
- Improved methodology.
These new changes are being implemented ahead of the commencement of Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP).
ICBF update to economic values
Updates to economic values are arising from revisions in the Teagasc bio-economic model. Due to multiple factors economy-wide, the costs and revenues associated with beef production have changed in recent years.
The changes to the economic values attributed to traits “are reflective of a longer-term outlook on the industry as a whole”, according to the ICBF.
E.g., the carcass weight economic value has increased from €3.89 to €4.68.
Inclusion of Carbon
The inclusion of carbon in beef breeding indexes marks “a world first”, according to the ICBF.
In November 2022, carbon was included in the Economic Breeding Index (EBI), and included in the Dairy Beef Index (DBI) in January 2023.
The move to include carbon aligns the beef breeding indexes with the other breeding objectives.
The inclusion of carbon is based on internationally recognised Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and aims to reduce overall farm carbon footprint.
In Ireland there is a legal obligation to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 51% by 2030 with each sector of society expected to contribute to this reduction.
The agricultural sector has been set a reduction target of 25% to be reached by 2030.
“Genetic improvement is a proven technology used to advance animal performance and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” the cattle breeding database outlined.
Inclusion of new traits
In line with the ICBF mission, new traits impacting farm profitability are incorporated into breeding indexes when appropriate.
The new traits that are now included in the beef breeding indexes are:
- Age at finish;
- Carcass specifications;
- TB;
- Single-Step;
- Non-linear cost of docility.
The economic cost associated with age at finish has long been discussed, however the additional carbon cost has not been quantified to date.
According to the ICBF, the inclusion of the age at finish trait will allow an economic value and a carbon weight to be attributed to the trait
The federation stated:
“This will result in increased profitability and reduced carbon footprint, by reducing age at slaughter for a constant level of fat in animals destined for prime beef production.”
In addition to the existing carcass weight and conformation traits included in the beef breeding indexes, new carcass specifications focused on factory specs have been included in the breeding goal. The ‘out of spec’ traits apply to carcass weight, conformation and fat.
Tuberculosis (TB) will be included in beef breeding indexes for the first time, with an economic value in the index in an effort to halt the deterioration in TB susceptibility in beef cattle.
TB cost almost €100 million in 2020, and Ireland has the highest rates of TB in the EU. “By breeding genetically more TB-resistant animals, we can help to bring the rates of TB down across the country,” according to ICBF.
Single-step is a new genetic evaluation methodology that increases the accuracy of genomic evaluations.
In line with international best practice, single-step evaluation will now be applied to the calving evaluations included in both the Terminal and Replacement Indexes.
Single-step evaluation optimises the relationship between traits to better leverage the 2.5 million genotypes available to the evaluations.
Teagasc research indicates that 65% of all farm injuries are livestock related. As a result of research and farmer feedback, the economic cost associated with poor docility has been moved to a non-linear cost.
This means that there is an increased economic cost associated with poor docility animals.