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Farmers are divided in their opinion on the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation’s (ICBF’s) ongoing crisis.
The organisation is in a “bit of a mess” and there is a question over its independence at the moment, according to Mike Bateman, a dairy farmer from Co Cork.
Bateman is a member of Forge Genetics – where the best bulls are collected and go into Bova AI in Limerick – and there are no restrictions on farmers when it comes to selling bulls to other AI companies. Forge is not a shareholder in ICBF.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, he said that there are big questions over the ICBF – and disappointingly so.
He said that ICBF had done wonders for dairy in the last 15 years, giving the Economic Breeding Index (EBI) as an example.
On contracts and genetics, Bateman believes that contracts are not the way forward for the industry, and genetics should belong to the farmer.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, a number of farmers whose herds are in the top 200 EBI herds in the country said that there needs to be better representation in ICBF.
One farmer, who didn’t wish to be named, said that the ICBF needs to listen to farmers. “What’s going on with ICBF at the moment is not good. Farmers are paying the price here.
“I’ll continue to pay my subsidy with the tags – ICBF is the only show in town – but there need to be more farmers represented in the ICBF.”
‘ICBF is not in a mess’
Meanwhile, former ICBF chair John O’Sullivan has said that ICBF is not in a mess and that farmers are being represented on the board.
“The issues will be sorted and dealt with. ICBF has made great progress over the last number of years – with the EBI, for example – and this will be maintained. There’s an unnecessary focus on a number of side shows.”
On contracts, O’Sullivan said that he has no difficulty with an AI company contracting a cow in a herd for the purpose of breeding a bull calf.
However, he believes that whole-herd contracts are “not the wisest”.
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