New suckler scheme to address 'absolute chasm' between top and bottom herds - Coveney
The new Beef Data and Genomics Programme will address what has been described as an ‘absolute chasm’ between the top and bottom performing suckler herds in the country, according to the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney.
Responding to criticism of the scheme in the Dail this week he said the Government are committing €300m to the suckler herd.
“I want to give a strong statement from Government in the rural development programme that the suckler herd really matters.
“Tens of thousands of farm families, in every constituency and parish in the country, are deriving an income from suckler beef and we want to keep them there,” he said.
According to Coveney, farmers have nothing of which to be frightened in this scheme. However, he did say that ‘it is true that this is quite a complex scheme’.
“We want to use the supports that we will be giving through this scheme to ensure that we improve the genetics and breeding performance of the herd.
“We also want to improve the quality of the herd so that animals grow faster, have better confirmation and improve their ease of calving and temperament and so on,” he said.
Minister responds to key questions
According to the Minister all of the things the Department have designed in this scheme are concerned with helping farmers to become more efficient and profitable and to produce better herds based on better breeding programmes.
“We are training farmers to use the scientific genomic data that we will collect from their herds, matched with the performance data farmers will provide, to help them do that.
This is a win-win situation for everyone.
The Minister said it is not an attempt to capture farmers or tie them into things that they do not want to do.
It is about working with farmers, getting information from them and giving it back to them in a form that with training results in better breeding programmes in our suckler beef herd.
If there is one thing I know since becoming Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine it is that the difference between the top performing suckler herds and the bottom performing suckler herds is an absolute chasm at the moment.
The Minster said we must help everyone move into a more efficient way of producing beef, which is more profitable for them and which is more climate efficient for us in terms of the targets we have to meet in agriculture.
“This is the purpose of the scheme. We will pay people to be part of that journey.”
