There are just over two weeks to go until the new updated beef indexes are rolled out on 21 November and opinion remains divided among farmers and pedigree breeders on whether the changes will have a positive impact on the suckler herd.

Questions

While the Teagasc/ICBF webinar last week went a long way to explaining why the changes are coming, some farmers still feel both Teagasc and ICBF have a lot of questions left to answer including suckler farmers’ representation on the board of ICBF.

“There’s a scene in the film Braveheart where the English king adopts a strategy to deal with the Scottish and he says ‘If we can’t get them out, we’ll breed them out’.

“That’s what it feels like to be a suckler farmer at the moment.

“The ICBF communication on the changes has been abysmal and it’s farmers’ livelihoods they are playing with here.

“It’s one thing to decide on policy but you have to think about the on-farm implications of these changes and ICBF isn’t doing that.”

Continental genetics

“Thousands of farmers running continental genetics in their suckler cows can’t be wrong. Another thing is that we have almost 70% of the board of ICBF with a dairy background; to me that’s not fair or acceptable.

“The IFA has also got big questions to answer with four members on the board. ICBF won’t see change unless it brings farmers with it and it hasn’t got farmers with it at the moment.“

“The suckler sector is at a critical stage and needs leadership to protect and build the sector.

“Allowing the cow type to be steered towards more dairy-based genetics will decimate the income potential for farmers and force farmers out, which one could argue is the aim.

“I am calling on all stakeholders to come together and put the planned reshaping of the index on hold until an independent audit of the current index is carried out.

“This is required as the current evaluations bear little reflection to what is happening at farm level in terms of animal quality and returns to farmers. This is clearly evident when examining the returns from a controlled farm environment such as Tullamore Farm.

“Weight differences of up to 200kg and price difference of over €500 are recorded for similar starred animals of different breeds.

“I ask the ICBF board members to stand tall, consider the future of suckler farmers, not vested interests, and get this right as the direction given this time will be make or break.”

“I think we need a period of calm.

“Nobody likes change but change is constant and we need to make sure we future-proof the suckler herd from the challenges we are going to meet in the future.

“We have to be seen to be making an effort to meet our climate change targets or we could be looking at a cull of cows in 2030.

“The simple fact is that 84% of animals will retain their four- and five-star status under the changes and nobody is going to stop anybody from pursuing a specific breed or breeding programme.”