The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) has made a new tool available on its website that will allow farmers to find heifers eligible for the Beef Data Genomics Programme (BDGP) at their local mart.
The ‘Mart Tracker’ is now live on the ICBF website and the new addition will allow farmers to see what BDGP-eligible heifers are being traded at marts throughout the country on a given day.
The tracker is easy to use and aims to help farmers identify and locate BDGP-eligible heifers in their local livestock sale.
How does the ‘Mart Tracker’ work?
According to the ICBF, approximately 80% of the cattle marts in Ireland now display ICBF data on the sales-ring screens.
Cattle are checked in to marts before the sale commences and once the cattle have been checked in to the sale, the ICBF’s Mart Tracker will show the BDGP-eligible genotyped and four/five-star heifers.
The Mart Tracker is simple to access. Firstly, farmers must visit the ICBF homepage. A yellow band will be visible across the top of the homepage saying: ‘Looking for BDGP Eligible Heifers and Cows? Use our Live Mart Tracker’. Clicking the link will bring the user to a page where farmers can select their preferred sale.
Once a mart has been selected, a listing of the BDGP-eligible heifers/cows will appear on the page.
The main details will be displayed for each animal, i.e. the lot number, age, star rating and breed.
For more details on each animal you can click on the tag number which will take you to the animal search-page.
The ‘Mart Tracker’ will only display animals that are for sale on that current day at marts that show ICBF data.
The ICBF has outlined it is currently working with cattle marts to host special ‘BDGP-eligible heifer sales’.
For these sales, animals will be submitted beforehand to allow potential buyers more time to view the animals online.