Tensions continue between ICBF and various societies

The row between pedigree breed societies and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) continues after a tense and fraught Beef Stakeholder Forum meeting which took place on Friday 14 February.

A number of breed societies have decided against printing genetic indices in future sale catalogues.

They also maintain that the ICBF hasn’t listened to their concerns over the changes that were brought about in the November 2023 evaluation

A number of farm organisations have rowed in behind them, including the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).

This culminated in a vote of no confidence being taken in the ICBF board and the technical advisory group (TAG) at a Pedigree Breeders Council meeting which took place after Friday’s stakeholder meeting.

Commenting on the decision, chair of the Pedigree Breeders Council, Seamus Nagle, said: “It is unfortunate we have come to this point, however, at this stage we feel we have no other choice.

“It’s our view that the current ICBF model is the most comprehensive inbreeding programme in the bovine genetics’ world.

“A commitment was given by a TAG committee member at the November stakeholder forum that stakeholders would be allowed to contribute to the technical discussion around calving difficulty. The breed societies and other stakeholders attended the workshop in good faith.

“However, not one member of the TAG committee or one technical representative from Teagasc attended the workshop.

“Not one Simmental, Salers or Shorthorn bull is in the top 20 bulls on the replacement index on the active bull list, despite being bred as maternal breeds for centuries, with only one Limousin bull making it into the top 20,” he said.

On Friday, the stakeholder meeting format came in for severe criticism from breed societies in particular in relation to no minutes being taken at previous meetings or defined actions circulated to members of the group.

This was resolved at the meeting with the ICBF agreeing to take notes at each meeting and circulate minutes and actions.

There was a lot of discussion around the Teagasc economic model at the Beef Stakeholder Forum, with Paul Crosson from Teagasc, the architect of the Grange beef model that drives the indices, acknowledging that it was a lot more difficult on the beef side of the house to represent all the different beef systems in a model.

Teagasc gave an undertaking that it would review the model which will also involve an exercise where the economic values will be updated to better reflect the current beef market.

This process will take a number of months and should be ready for rollout in summer 2025.

All eyes will be on the Irish Charolais Cattle Society sale in Tullamore on Saturday to see if the lack of indices in the sale catalogue impacts the trade.

Meanwhile, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has called for the tensions to be resolved.

“What [the] ICBF do is very important, but the end result has to work for farmers. If it doesn’t work for farmers, then it’s not working.

I believe in general [the] ICBF has had a very positive impact on Irish agriculture over the last 20 years and I don’t think that should be lost out of the conversation,” he said.