Over 1,200 farmers responded to last weekend’s Irish Farmers Journal survey of readers on the proposed changes to the ICBF beef indexes.

The survey was commissioned to gauge a wider view from a large group of farmers on the changes.

While there has been a lot of discussion and debate around the changes, it was important to get a wider view of what all suckler farmers, small and large, pedigree and commercial, think of the changes.

The vast majority (94%) of farmers who completed the survey were suckler farmers.

Most farmers had a herd size of under 40, with 22% having between 10-20, 23% in the 20-30 herd size and 16% in the 30-40 group. The majority of farmers (74%) were SCEP participants.

In terms of changing the breeds that they use, 93% said they wouldn’t be changing the breed they use on their farm.

Some 84% of respondents didn’t agree with the proposed changes being implemented.

On the question of whether farmers thought the ICBF index system was leaving farmers more money on their farm, 78% of farmers thought that it wasn’t and 22% thought that it was.

A total of 85% of farmers surveyed thought the planned introduction of the changes on 28 November should be delayed, while 15% thought that the change should go ahead.

Over 90% thought that Teagasc and ICBF haven’t adequately communicated the upcoming changes to suckler farmers.

A further 81% of farmers believe that beef farmers are doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on their farms; 19% thought there was room for improvement.

A total of 95% of farmers surveyed thought there should be more beef farmer representation on the board of ICBF. Some 92% of farmers surveyed felt that the farm organisations (IFA and ICMSA) weren’t representing farmer views well enough on the board of ICBF.

There was an interesting response to a question on the Food Vision recommendations on a suckler exit or reduction scheme being revisited in 2024.

Forty percent of farmers said they would opt to reduce or exit in 2024 if the scheme was introduced, which was down 10% on the same question asked in an Irish Farmers Journal survey of beef farmers in April 2023.