A series of special sales comprising female cattle that are eligible for the Beef Data Genomics Programme (BDGP) will be taking place at marts across the country this month.

The special BDGP-eligible female sales have been organised by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the Irish Co-Operative Organisation Society (ICOS).

The female cattle in these sales will be genotyped four or five-star cattle born on or before June 30, 2021.

Details of the BDGP eligible female cattle sales are as follows:

MartFirst saleSecond saleThird sale
BallinaOctober 18  
BallinasloeOctober 12October 19 
BandonOctober 10October 24
CahirOctober 12October 26
CarnewOctober 15October 22October 29
CarrigallenOctober 10October 24 
ClareOctober 20 
CorrinOctober 11October 25
DonegalOctober 21 
DungarvanOctober 10October 24
ElphinOctober 19  
GortOctober 20  
GortatleaOctober 26  
KilkennyOctober 13October 20October 27
MacroomOctober 15October 29
SkibbereenOctober 14October 28
TuamOctober 10  
WexfordOctober 11  

If purchased, the cattle will immediately be counted towards the buyer’s herd’s target number of eligible females in their herd on October 31, once the cattle have been moved into the herd number.

Entries for these sales can be viewed through the herd’s ICBF online account. Once logged into the herd’s ICBF account, go to ‘Services’ then click ‘Stock Express’ and then click ‘Buyer’ and select the sale you are interested in. Most animals will be entered the week of the sale.

Having purchased genotyped four or five-star females, farmers should recheck their herd’s BDGP compliance online through their ICBF account.

Under the ‘View Profiles’ drop down section, click ‘BDGP Eligibility’. This profile will give farmers an up-to-date picture of where their herd stands in relation to each target. Any targets which the herd is non-compliant with will be highlighted in red.

Farmers who need more BDGP eligible females and are not waiting for genotyping results, the only option to meet the target of October 31, is to purchase genotyped four or five-star females.

Herds with surplus BDGP-eligible females

If a herd has a surplus of genotyped four and five-star females in their herd after the latest evaluation, the upcoming BDGP-eligible female sales may be of interest.

If farmers with surplus eligible females are interested in selling – and these, according to ICBF, can be made up of un-calved females born on/before June 30, 2021 – they can simply log on to the ‘ICBF Web Application’ app.

Once logged in, go to ‘Menu then click ‘Services then click ‘Stock Express‘. Here you can select to ‘Sell’, then click ‘Mart Sale’ from the sales category and a list of upcoming sales will appear.

Once a sale is selected, all genotyped four and five star (in the current evaluation) females in your herd will be displayed and can be entered for that sale.

These sales will be sections of regular mart sales. BDGP herds short of eligible females will be notified of all upcoming sales.