This is a subscriber-only article
Data pertaining to calves born in the 12 months prior to 30 June this year is what will affect your BDGP payments this December.
Calves must have been registered within 27 days of birth.
A BVD tissue sample must be then returned within 30 days of birth and sire and calving ease must be recorded. From five months of age, we must complete surveys on each calf relating to traits like docility, vigour and incidences of scour and pneumonia.
Cow milking ability and docility are also to be recorded, as are culling reasons.
If you fail to genotype 10% or less of nominated animals you will accrue a penalty based on what you’ve missed
The DAFM has confirmed that all 2017 genomic tissue samples and all data for calves born up to 30 June 2017 should be returned before 7 December for payment in mid-December.
Record and event keeping
Data collection and event recording together account for 35% of your BDGP payment – split into record keeping (10%) and event recording (25%). A 95% or greater compliance with recording will see no penalty on payment. A farmer returning 60-94% of calving survey data will be subject to a penalty proportionate to the amount of data missing.
Where less than 60% of data is submitted, the complete amount for the measure (10% of total BDGP for record keeping or 25% for event recording) will be withheld.
BVD is a big one for BDGP penalties. All animals must be tested for BVD within twenty days of birth and have samples returned to the designated laboratories as soon as possible. Applicants will not receive any payment until they have returned all samples and are in full compliance with BVD requirements.
Telling porkies
It is of course very tempting to sit at the kitchen table and fill in “very good” or “average” for every calf in the herd. Fluctuating index values are frustrating for all of us and we love complaining about them, but if we don’t put some effort into ensuring the accuracy of the data that we are submitting then we are nothing but hypocrites.
ICBF will recognise when someone submits the same answer for each individual animal and likely discredit your data on their system.
What’s worse is someone filling in answers randomly, which won’t be picked up and so incorrect data will go towards affecting the relevant index values.
Remember, when recording this data you are ranking animals only against their herd mates.
Do not compare your animals to your neighbour’s, for example.
The data of older calves and cows can be the hardest to nail down as these animals are typically grazing by the time you can record. For me, the simplest way is to get an idea of the extremes in your herd first.
Then, build in the rest of the data relative to these animals.
What calves are particularly flighty this year at dosing time?
Which are your most shapely calves?
Which cows are quietest?
Which cows look to have the most milk?
The animal events recording (pocket) notebook should be used to record data in the field prior to transferring the data to survey forms or recording online. You should keep the notebook close to hand at important times of the year, eg calving and weaning time.
Genotyping
The number of animals for genotyping each year is based on the reference figure – number of calved suckler cows in 2014 (or 2017 for new entrants). Animals can only be genotyped once and for every year of the programme there must be 60% of the reference number genotyped.
Genotyping kits will have been sent out earlier in the summer and the deadline for returning these is 7 December.
Genotyping increases reliability figures even before the animal has produced any offspring. Other immediate benefits to the farmer include parentage and breed verification.
Genomic tissue-sampling accounts for 10% of total BDGP payment and genotyping itself 15%.
The split refers to a situation where an issue arises, such as an invalid sample or an unknown parent that cannot be identified via genotyping (rare) – you are rewarded for taking the sample, but must follow up on any outlying issues to receive the full payment.
If you fail to genotype 10% or less of nominated animals you will accrue a penalty based on what you’ve missed.
Where 60% to 90% of animals nominated are genotyped by the deadline, your complete genotyping portion of the BDGP payment will be withheld. If less than 60% of nominated genotypes are completed by the deadline, 100% of your BDGP payment for the year will be withheld.
Replacement strategy
In terms of sire usage, the only requirement of note at present is that 80% of AI bulls being used must be four or five star on the terminal and/or replacement index.
This measure accounts for 10% of total BDGP payment and non-compliance will lead to a full 10% loss, as well as an additional penalty for the same amount. Index requirements around stock bulls do not come into place until 2019.
For females, the first significant date for original BDGP entrants is Halloween 2018, when the equivalent of 20% of your reference number (calved cows in 2014) must be four or five stars on their first genomic proof. To be eligible, these animals must be at least 16 months of age. So, animals born after 31 June this year will not qualify for this. Females born before 1 Jan 2013 must have been either born in the herd or purchased into the herd before 5 June 2015 in order to be considered for eligibility.
The replacement female measure comprises 20% of total BDGP payment. In terms of penalties for this measure, compliance of 90% to 100% will be subject to proportionate penalties. Less than 90% of target will lead to a full 20% loss, with an additional penalty for the same amount to boot.
Carbon navigator
The final measure for concern at the moment is our carbon navigator, which accounts for 10% of our payment. Participants in BDGP II (2017-2022) will have to complete a carbon navigator with a DAFM approved adviser before 31 October 2017.
BDGP (2015-2020) participants who completed their first carbon navigator in autumn 2016 and are required to do an annual update, the first of which must be completed before 1 November 2017.
Failure to get this done by the respective deadline will see a loss of the complete carbon navigator-based payment, as well as an additional penalty of the same amount.
The annual update does not have to be completed in conjunction with an approved adviser. It involves a short survey with three sections relating to 2016: length of grazing season, nitrogen usage and slurry and FYM management. This annual update can be completed online (www.icbf.com) or via a postal form.
What you need to be feeding autumn-calving suckler cows
What is the whole herd performance recording and what does it do?
SHARING OPTIONS: