The new, national genotyping programme was launched today (Wednesday, May 31), with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine Charlie McConalogue saying he expects a “very strong uptake” from every farmer in the country.

Speaking at the launch of the programme today, the minister said: “This is the first step in making us the first country in the world to genotype our full herd.

“Over the next year, €23 million will be paid upfront by the state through the Brexit Adjustment Reserve [BAR] and that’s really going to get a significant amount of the breeding population genotyped over the course of the next year.

“Then, on an ongoing basis over the next five years, it’s going to be a one-third divvy up between the department, industry, and farmers themselves.”

He added: “The key thing here is that it is going to leave everyone better off and leave the industry better off.”

Minister McConalogue said he expects strong interest from farmers in the programme.

“We’re expecting really very strong uptake. All the farm organisations and industry are absolutely behind this, as is the department, and people who have been working now for ICBF [Irish Cattle Breeders Federation] for many years have seen the potential of genetic recording, [and] of recording data as well.”

“So I expect every farmer in the country to want to be part of this and that’s where I expect to see it go,” he said.

The launch was also attended by two representatives from the ICBF, its chair Michael Doran and its CEO Sean Coughlan.

Doran commented: “Initially, the target is to do 800,000 cows this year. That’s what the funding is there for through the BAR, plus the replacements on those farms and any stock bulls as well.”

Coughlan, meanwhile, said: “We have infrastructure in this country that most others don’t have that allow us to do this. The reason it hasn’t been done before is that it is hard.

“It’s not going to be a straightforward process, but the rewards are going to be there, and I think to use technology to have the economic sustainability, the environmental sustainability, and to keep the social fabric of rural Ireland, I think it ticks all the boxes,” Coughlan added.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the new programme, which is being run through a strategic public-private partnership model, will “enhance the environmental sustainability, health and productivity of Irish beef and dairy herds“.