Upcoming mart sales of SCEP-eligible heifers

The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) has recently published a list of upcoming mart sales of Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) eligible female cattle.

According to the ICBF, farmers can view the entries for these sales through their ICBF online accounts. Once logged in, click on Services and then click Stock Express. Then click Buyer and select the sale you are interested in. Most animals will be entered the week of the sale.

Ballyjamesduff Mart, Co. Cavan hosted a sale of SCEP eligible heifers yesterday, Tuesday, November 14, but other sales will be taking place over the next week in the locations outlined below.

Upcoming sales of SCEP-eligible heifers:

Elphin Mart, Co. Roscommon will also have a special breeding heifer sale in conjunction with its regular sale on Wednesday, November 22.

Herds that are short of SCEP-eligible females and have been granted the SCEP reference date extension to November 24, will be particularly interested in securing SCEP eligible heifers in these sales.

Herds that are short of their requirement will have to purchase genotyped 4/5-star females before November 24.

Herds who purchase genotyped 4 or 5-star females have been advised to recheck their herd’s SCEP compliance online through their ICBF account.

Any targets which a herd is non-compliant on for SCEP will be highlighted in red.

To check compliance, farmers can log on to their ICBF online account. Under the View Profiles dropdown, click SCEP Eligibility. This profile will give an up-to-date picture of where a herd stands in relation to each target.

Selling surplus SCEP-eligible heifers

Farmers who have a surplus of genotyped 4 or 5 star females currently in their herd after the October 31, 2023, evaluation date, may be interested in selling heifers at the upcoming SCEP eligible female sales.

ICBF has warned that only surplus animals can be sold. Females that were counted in a herd’s target for the October 31 evaluation will not be eligible in a new herd on November 24. An animal can only be counted once for meeting a herd’s eligibility criteria.

Farmers who are interested in selling eligible females can simply log on to the ‘ICBF Web Application’ app.

Once logged on, click Menu, then click Services and then click Stock Express. From here, herd owners can select to ‘Sell’, then choose ‘Mart Sale’ from the sales category and a list of upcoming sales will appear.

Once a sale is selected, all genotyped 4 and 5 star heifers (in the current evaluation) females in that herd will be displayed and can be entered for that sale.

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