I purchase my replacement heifers at weanling stage as I like to ensure I have time to take necessary health precautions and have them ready for bulling in spring to calve at 24 months of age. What is the likelihood of four- and five-star heifers dropping in value when genotyped? Can I genotype these heifers between now and breeding so I do not have to go to the expense of putting them in-calf and then find they may not be eligible? Herd-owners can expect some animals to move from being eligible (ie four or five stars on Replacement Index) as a weanling to being ineligible as a calved-in replacement heifer (less than four or five stars). Regardless of whether there was a BDGP scheme or not, this is a simple outcome of the €uro-Star evaluation process, as more performance data as well as genomic data gets added into the picture for each individual animal. What herd-owners really need to remember is that while some animals may go down, an equal and opposite number will come up across the national population. Therefore, they do not have to be overly concerned about this issue. It is a natural consequence of the €uro-Star evaluation process, and the fluctuations will balance themselves out over the six-year duration of the scheme. In terms of when the ICBF will have an operational system in place (for additional animals, including animals to be bred for the first time in 2016), we anticipate having this in place for spring 2016, ahead of the main breeding season.