The much anticipated Sustainable Ruminant Genetics (SRG) programme for Northern Ireland has officially been launched.

It will be a core project in helping farmers to achieve their climate change targets.

In essence, the new programme will be the vehicle through which improved breeding programmes secure significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions within the cattle and sheep sectors.

The initial focus of the project will be on the beef and dairy sectors, with the sheep sector to follow.

Farmer participation will be encouraged through the decision to link compliance with the scheme to eligibility for future farm support measures in Northern Ireland.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), SRG will help drive improvements in productivity and environmental performance in the ruminant livestock sectors.

The programme will be delivered by DAERA, in partnership with the agri-food industry.

Farm stakeholder bodies in Northern Ireland have already come together to establish a new company, Sustainable Ruminant Genetics (SRG) Ltd.

The new business has been established as a non-profit initiative. It is a strategic partnership between the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU), Dairy Council for Northern Ireland (DCNI), Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) and Northern Ireland Meat Exporters Association (NIMEA).

It will assist DAERA in delivering several key functions including the promotion and marketing of the new programme.

The new SRG programme has garnered support from all stakeholder bodies operating within Northern Ireland’s ruminant sectors

The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise CAFRE will provide training to support the industry to maximise the benefits delivered by SRG.

It is envisaged that genetic improvement will contribute significantly to achieving the target reductions in GHG emissions. The first phase of this programme will provide farmers with the data and evidence to make better informed breeding decisions to advance genetic gain in dairy and beef animals.

Sheep farmers will also wish to increase the rate of genetic improvement. However, at this stage, the best approach for achieving this has yet to be decided.

The new programme was launched recently on the Co. Antrim farm of Thoburn McCaughey. The business comprises dairy, beef and sheep enterprises.

Former UFU president, Victor Chestnutt has been appointed chair of SRG.

The launch of the new programme

Speaking at the launch event, he highlighted the importance of food security as a global priority. And in this context, he foresaw the role that farming and food in Northern Ireland can continue to play.

But Chestnutt also recognises the need for all the farming sectors to improve their levels of efficiency, as they respond to the targets laid down within Northern Ireland’s climate change legislation.

Citizens’ Assembly - biodiversity and suckler cows — Producer compliance with SRG will be linked to the securing of future farm support in Northern Ireland

“Farmers will change the way they operate their businesses as they commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emission levels,” he added.

“But all of this can be achieved without diminishing the farming and sector’s commitments, where food production is concerned.

“The ruminant genetics programme will provide farmers with the required tools and data, supporting them to make better, more informed breeding decisions.

“This will create breeding practices that are more productive resulting in carbon efficient animals.”

According to Chestnutt, a different solution will be required for sheep, compared to cattle: there is no centrally held database for ovines.

Sheep

SRG will work with DAERA to incorporate the sheep sector into the genetics programme at the earliest opportunity.

This will take into consideration the recent report by the Northern Ireland Sheep Industry Taskforce, outlining its vision for the future of the sheep sector.

It is estimated that only 12% of Northern Ireland’s dairy cows and 3% of suckler cows are involved in physical or financial benchmark reporting.

This compares badly with the 70% dairy and suckler compliance in the Republic of Ireland, where these matters are concerned.

Targets

In order to improve this situation in Northern Ireland, SRG will work to encourage farmers to engage with the ruminant genetics programme, showcasing the benefits of this approach for their farm business and the environment.

Sheep will not be included within the initial remit of SRG

“The aim is to have 70% of dairy and beef cows included in the programme benchmarking services within five years from when the programme was launched,” Chestnutt said.

“Genetic profiling and DNA testing of cattle will be required to deliver the desired genetics evaluations and SRG is currently exploring options with DAERA to deliver this.

“However, no decisions have been made regarding the scale required or the timing of delivery.

“The focus now for SRG is on promoting the ruminant genetics programme and engaging with farmers to inform them about how they can avail of its services including benchmark reports and training.

“By getting involved in the programme, farmers will gain vital data that can drive breeding decisions based on genetic merit assessment to suit their individual business objectives, which in turn will help reduce their carbon footprint contributing to climate change targets.”

SRG in context

The launch of SRG brings to an end all the talk concerning the need to secure real information regarding the actual performance of Northern Ireland’s ruminant livestocks.

In essence, the new initiative takes us from the planning to the delivery phase of farming’s response to climate change.

Signing up for the new scheme is not mandatory in that legal sense. But in reality it is. DAERA and the livestock industry stakeholder bodies have confirmed that compliance with the new scheme is required for those livestock farmers wishing to receive the full complement of support measures, once the current single payment scheme comes to an end.

At a fundamental level SRG confirms the basic reality that the attainment of improved efficiency levels is the only show in town, when it comes to agriculture meeting the emission targets laid down within Northern Ireland’s climate change legislation.

In essence, the new programme sets out to identify those animals that produce less methane.

The good news for farmers is the positive association between lower biogenic methane production levels and enhanced animal performance.

So, it should be possible to breed stock that can tick both boxes.

In making this happen, livestock farmers will be asked to meet certain requirements. One of these will, probably, be the referencing of both the sire and dam details when registering a newborn calf.

Genotyping of all calves will also be expected at time of registration. This will require a tissue sample being taken and submitted for analysis when the animal is initially tagged.

But farmers are already doing this, where bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) is concerned. So pushing ahead with the proposed genotyping work should not be that big a challenge – at farm level at least.

One obvious omission is the fact that SRG will not be committing to make milk recording mandatory.

An Taisce — Milk recording will not be included within the remit of SRG

The uptake of this technology within Northern Ireland’s dairy sector remains extremely low. This is a situation that beggars belief, given that regular milk recording allows farmers to consistently identify their best performing cows on a wholly-scientific basis.

Where dairy is concerned, the days are long gone when bulk milk tank figures alone will allow farmers to develop fit-for-purpose breeding programmes.

And milk output is only one piece in the jig saw puzzle. Getting an accurate perspective on individual cell count and udder health related data must be placed at the heart of future dairy breeding initiatives.

So it’s over to the milk processers then to address this critically important issue.

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