Most farmers participating in the Beef Data and Genomics Programme’s first scheme will have no major problems meeting the target of having 20% of an applicant’s reference number genotyped as four or five stars on the replacement index by 31 October 2018.

For animals to be considered eligible on this date, they must satisfy one of three criteria:

  • Be rated as four or five stars on the replacement index (on a within-breed or cross-breed basis) at the time of genotyping (for those replacements bred within the herd). Where a non-genotyped replacement heifer is purchased, this animal must be subsequently genotyped and confirmed four or five stars on the replacement index before deemed eligible to be counted in the calculation.
  • Be at least 16 months old.
  • Be born in 2013 or later for animals introduced into the herd after 5 June 2015. The 2013 age rule is not applicable to cows purchased prior to 5 June 2015.

    • Farmers selling or purchasing animals should review their current herd status to ensure that these targets will be met, with one eye also on meeting the higher target of 50% on an applicant’s reference number genotyped as four or five star by 31 October 2020. The majority of marts are displaying €uro-Star index information for females traded from herds participating in the BDGP or ICBF’s HerdPlus facility. You can also use ICBF’s animal search facility to look up the rating of females in BDGP and HerdPlus herds. There were 318,000 such searches carried out in the first half of 2017.

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